Existing law requires the State Oil and Gas Supervisor to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells, as provided. Existing law requires the supervisor, in cooperation with appropriate state and local agencies, to both (1) conduct a study of abandoned oil and gas wells located in those areas of the state with substantial potential for methane and other hazardous gas accumulations in order to determine the location, the extent of methane gas and other hazardous gas accumulations, and potential hazards from the abandoned wells, and (2) develop a strategy for extracting existing accumulations of methane gas and other hazardous gas from abandoned oil and gas wells in high-risk areas identified by the supervisor in order to protect the health and safety of the public.
This bill would require the Geologic Energy
Management Division to review the study and strategy and determine if any of the oil and gas wells identified continue to pose a hazard.