Asset retirement obligations for lenders and sureties
How operators book plugging liabilities, what the filings show, and how to compare them with what plugging actually cost.
Companies that own wells must book an asset retirement obligation (ARO), their estimate of the future cost of plugging and restoring. The figure appears in annual filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
What the filings show
We compiled ARO balances and the amounts companies said they settled in a year, for oil and gas filers in the SEC's structured data. See what operators report.
Booked versus actual
An operator's ARO is its own estimate, usually discounted, covering all asset types. It is not a plugging price. Public plugging costs, such as the state figures here, are what governments paid for orphan wells and give a second reference point. The two are different measures; compare them with care.
Gaps
Filings rarely state how many wells were plugged in a year, so a booked liability per well or a settled cost per well cannot be derived from them reliably. We do not publish one.
For exposure checks on a list of wells, use the portfolio report and the bond check.