The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has opened the application period for a program offering more than $100 million to permanently plug and abandon marginal conventional oil and gas wells across the state. The agency announced the opening in a Sept. 8 news release.
The Texas Voluntary Marginal Conventional Well Plugging Program, known as TxMCW, is now accepting applications from marginal conventional well owners and operators interested in permanently plugging and abandoning their oil or gas wells, TCEQ said. The agency described the program’s goal as reducing harmful air emissions and pollutants by plugging those wells, and said the money comes from the Inflation Reduction Act’s Methane Emissions Reduction Program.
Eligible applicants include individuals, corporations, state and local governments, and other legal entities, according to the release.
The agency set specific limits on which wells qualify. Wells must be onshore in Texas and produce no more than 15 barrels of oil equivalent per day, or 90 thousand cubic feet of gas per day, measured over a calendar year; TCEQ noted that one barrel of oil equivalent equals six thousand cubic feet of gas. Qualifying wells must also be vertical, must not have been previously plugged, and must have a known owner or operator. Additional eligibility information is included in the posted solicitation, the agency said.
Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. CST on Nov. 9, and wells will be selected for participation on a competitive basis, according to the release. TCEQ directs prospective applicants to the posted Request for Grant Applications for well eligibility guidelines, submission requirements and application instructions.
The agency said more information is available on the TxMCW webpage, where interested parties can also sign up for program updates, and it listed a program phone line and the email address TxMCW@tceq.texas.gov for questions. Laura Lopez is listed as the media contact for the announcement.
TxMCW is a program of TCEQ, the agency said, and the current solicitation covers wells selected during this application cycle.