Every March since 1987, Congress and U.S. Presidents have designated March as Women’s History Month. This year, The Crude Life celebrates and honors their accomplishments and contributions in history with interviews and stories that center around women’s experiences in industry.
After a very successful loss in the Republican primary for the Texas Railroad Commissioner, America’s Energy Influencer Sarah Stogner is now documenting the oil and gas wells that are coming back to life as Zombie Wellz in a new series on TikTok.
According to Stogner, Zombie Wells are wells that have a “downhole condition that has not been confirmed and you do not have enough of the data to know what’s happening downhole. And they are bouncing back to life, springing back to life, coming back from the dead.”
Stogner continues explaining why the Zombie Wells have come back to life after being dormant or dead for decades.
@zombiewellz Welcome to zombie wells TikTok – documenting oil & gas wells springing back to life and wreaking havoc on the environment. #zombiewells #spookyseason #spookylake #txlege #texas #fyp #learnontiktok
♬ Scary stories, horror footage, halloween sati – RYOpianoforte
“The increase water injections that we are doing now as a result of the shale revolution,” Stogner said. “That water has to go somewhere. We inject it deep and it causes earthquakes and when we inject it shallow and it comes into contact with shallower aquifers.”
She continues to explain how the advancement of science has not been balanced properly resulting in “much higher pressure shallower and it is bringing these old wells back to life.”
Orphaned Wells are those for which no former owner or operator can be located, or has gone bankrupt.
Abandoned Wells typically refers to an unproductive well with a known owner/operator.
“It’s compounding Jason,” Stogner said. “It’s 70-years of sloppy construction, lack of maintenance and it’s biting us in the butt. We can not continue to kick the can down the road.”
She adds that imposing today’s science on 50-year-old regulators wouldn’t be fair, however, updating today’s regulations with today’s science is critical to our public health and planet’s resources.
According to state data, Texas has 7,400 abandoned wells, but Stogner disagrees with those figures.
@theunicornlawyer Is this well plugged too? #gulf #legacy #zombiewells #firewayne #cvxblowout #txrrc #txlege #spooky #EndlessJourney
“I estimate the 8,000-ish abandoned well number to more like 100,000,” Stogner said. “If you look at core test wells and other holes in the ground, and let’s not forget that we have over 100,000 right now in the state of Texas that have been shut-in and haven’t produced in several months.”
She added that for current data, Commissionship has reliable data for those looking for up-to-date info, but at the time of the interview, she was specifically questioning 150,000 wells that are still on operators books, have a P5 license to operate and are just sitting and rotting.
Furthermore, the state’s bonding procedure is antiquated and costing tax payers millions.
“It’s only around 15% that the bonding covers of the anticipated costs to plug all the wells out there that need to be plugged under today’s current inventory of wells,” Stogner said.
To add on the cost to the tax payers, oil and gas companies pay a “blanket bond” when they do business in the state. According to SuretyBonds, the required bond amount is determined by the number of wells you operate within the state. If you operate fewer than 10 wells, the required bond amount is $25,000. If you operate 10 to 99 wells, the required bond amount is $50,000. If you operate 100 wells or more, the required bond amount is $250,000.
“Now that we know better, we have to recognize that we have a problem and say maybe they should have done better but they didn’t know better in the past,” Stogner said. “Once we know better, we have to do better. And that’s where we are at.”
This past summer, Stogner primarily used social media to run her political campaign and forced incumbent Wayne Christian to a runoff in the Texas Railroad Commission Race.
During The Crude Life Podcast, Stogner endorsed RCC candidate Democrat Luke Warford over Christian, who was first elected to the RRC in 2016.
“This is too important to let corrupt career politicians stay in office, and I’m taking a stand against it,” Stogner said.
Stogner lost to Christian by double digits in the one-on-one runoff. Her campaign was unique and successful. Her social media tenacity garnered enough support that carried her into becoming America’s Energy Influencer. She also said she will be running again for Texas Railroad Commissioner in the future, most likely in 2024 when the next seat is up for election.
@theunicornlawyer If you haven’t already, please follow my new account @ZombieWells – the fun is just getting started #txrrc #txlege #zombiewells #cvxblowout #cvx #firewayne #oilfield #surveillancevideo #EFT #OOTT
About The Crude Life
Award winning interviewer and broadcast journalist Jason Spiess and Content Correspondents engage with the industry’s best thinkers, writers, politicians, business leaders, scientists, entertainers, community leaders, cafe owners and other newsmakers in one-on-one interviews and round table discussions.
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