What it costs to plug a well in Louisiana
Reported costs of publicly funded plugging in Louisiana, 2023 to 2026: a median of $27,059 per well.
BModerate confidence
The middle of reported costs is $27,059. Most wells cost between $16,062 and $46,958 (the 10th to 90th percentile). The median is typically within 40% of what individual wells cost. It rests on 661 wells.
How Louisiana compares
Louisiana's median is below the middle of published states ($43,622) and is number 3 from the bottom of the 10 states with a published figure. State differences reflect well depth, terrain, the age of the wells and how each program buys the work, so a higher number does not by itself mean a less efficient program.
Funding
Louisiana's orphan well program has received at least $108.3 million in federal infrastructure-law grants that we could match in federal award records. Program tracker for Louisiana.
The documented backlog
Louisiana lists about 4,786 documented orphan wells. At the published range that would cost roughly $76.9 million to $224.7 million to plug, middle estimate $129.5 million. It is an estimate built from the figures above, not a program budget.
Bonds
Compare the cost with what operators must post: bond amounts for Louisiana.
Using the figure
These are costs of orphan wells plugged with public money, mostly shallow vertical wells. A deep, horizontal or offshore well, or a well with a collapsed casing, can cost far more. For a specific well, use the estimator; for the full state page, charts and sources see Louisiana costs.