Executive Summary
Carbon credit markets have long been dominated by CO₂. Yet superpollutants, which comprise the most potent global warming gases, have received a fraction of the commercial attention their warming contribution warrants. Orphaned oil and gas well (OOGW) plugging represents a scientifically rigorous and commercially credible route into the methane abatement market: the intervention is effectively permanent, the emission sources are documented, and the technologies are mature.
Orphaned oil and gas wells represent a large and under-addressed source of methane emissions in the United States. According to the IOGCC, 29 responding states reported 141,959 documented orphan wells as of December 31, 2023, while state estimates suggest a further 250,000 to 740,000 undocumented orphan wells. Because these wells have no solvent operator responsible for plugging them, and public programs remain insufficient relative to the scale of the problem, credit-financed plugging can provide a near-term mechanism for directing private capital toward permanent methane abatement.
CUR8 is now offering superpollutant credits of several method types in portfolios with high-quality nature-based and durable engineered removals. Orphaned oil and gas well (OOGW) plugging is one of the first avoided methane pathways to be explored by our diligence team with the support of Residual Carbon, experts in the development space of this methane abatement pathway.
