United States Documented Unplugged Orphaned Oil and Gas Well Dataset

The United States Documented Unplugged Orphaned Oil and Gas Well (DOW) dataset contains 117,672 wells in 27 states. The definition of an orphaned oil or gas well varies across data sources; the dataset includes oil or gas wells where the state indicates that the well is an unplugged orphan, or the following criteria are met: 1) no production for an average of 12 months (6 to 24 months depending on the state), 2) the well is unplugged, 3) there is no responsible party to manage the well for future re-use or for plugging and abandonment, and 4) the location of the well is documented. The dataset includes location coordinates, American Petroleum Institute (API) number, or other identification number, well type, well status, and additional information for each unplugged orphaned well. All data were collected by direct requests to the respective state agency overseeing oil and gas wells or data downloads from their online databases. Location format conversion was performed on wells without coordinate locations using tools provided by the Bureau of Land Management and some state agencies. No other data manipulations were performed to the source data aside from reformatting or the addition of explanatory notes.