About
Plugging Index is an independent data project that publishes benchmarks for the cost of plugging and abandoning oil and gas wells in the United States.
It exists because the cost of plugging a well is usually quoted from engineering estimates or one-off studies, while thousands of actual, publicly funded plugging costs sit in government records. We collect those records, test what can honestly be said from them, and publish it with a grade.
Principles
- Transactions, not estimates. Every figure comes from reported costs of wells that were plugged.
- Graded on held-out data. A figure is published only if it holds up on wells it was not computed from.
- No number where data is thin. Withheld figures are marked, not filled in.
- Receipts. Pages link to the public records behind them.
- Commercially usable sources only. Sources are checked for terms of use before anything is published.
What we do not have
We have depth for only part of the wells, no condition data, no contractor unit prices, and nothing on operator-funded plugging. We have no customers, partners or endorsements to list. Research is published as Plugging Index Research.