What it costs to plug a well in Ohio
Reported costs of publicly funded plugging in Ohio, 2023 to 2025: a median of $95,855 per well.
BModerate confidence
The middle of reported costs is $95,855. Most wells cost between $52,803 and $179,884 (the 10th to 90th percentile). The median is typically within 36% of what individual wells cost. It rests on 1,660 wells.
How Ohio compares
Ohio's median is above the middle of published states ($43,622) and is number 9 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.
The wells behind the figure are mostly other or unknowns, and 100% of the records are contract averages rather than a cost for one well.
The documented backlog
Ohio lists about 2,533 documented orphan wells. At the published range that would cost roughly $133.7 million to $455.6 million to plug, middle estimate $242.8 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 Ohio.
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 Ohio costs.