Ticking time bombs - What risk do abandoned oil and gas wells pose? | DW Documentary

The extraction of gas and oil poses a greater threat than previously thought. Leaks at disused drilling sites can trigger an environmental disaster at any time. If toxic substances escape, human lives are at risk.

Oil companies invest little in securing the former boreholes. Environmental activists are among the few on the lookout for this invisible danger: Of the 20 to 30 million former drilling sites worldwide, only a few are regularly and carefully monitored. From the North Sea to the Alsace region in France to the USA, abandoned extraction sites can be silently causing significant harm to both the environment and human health.

Take Bradford, USA: Here, several residents fell ill with mysterious symptoms including hair loss and nosebleeds. Eventually, medical doctor Jeffrey Nordella discovered they were all suffering from chronic benzene exposure caused by methane and crude oil. The substances had escaped over a long period of time from a disused borehole. Elsewhere, gas explosions from leaking production facilities cause enormous damage.

In many countries, oil and gas companies are legally obliged to seal abandoned wells immediately. However, the implementation and monitoring of these regulations is sporadic. Activists and whistleblowers are constantly trying to draw attention to this abuse.

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[Czechbound]

These residual clean up costs should be included in the lifetime cost of producing oil and natural gas to give a complete cost for comparison to the cost of, say, solar or nuclear

[puffinjuice]

The oil and gas industry makes record profits but they leave their waste for the state to clean up. Its so wrong!

[theconqueringram]

This is an important reminder that corporations aren't our friends and that real evil exists in the world.

[rustyring]

And we are being told it's the cows producing all the methane and we have to get rid of them. Lmfao

[conquistador]

To be absolutely corrupted means they are evil beyond belief!!! That's what power does to these oil companies!

[Solomon_TY]

DW again with another insightful documentary

[asajayunknown]

Ive said for years that im willing to let oil and gas execs run their operations wherever and however they like AS LONG AS they are willing to live, and let their grandchildren live, in the immediate proximity of their company's operations. If they are not willing to live there, then something is obviously unsafe about the operations.

[puffinjuice]

They should be forced to return the site to the state it was in before drilling. Plugging a site is not a solution if the metal can corrode and leak. Monitoring the wells is not a solution either because the oil and gras industry has no interest in monitoring and maintaining the sites.

[laurencevanhelsuwe]

If fossil fuel products and their derivatives (incl. your car's gasoline, your heating, plastics, food, ..) were priced to include the external costs those industries inflict on society and the biosphere as a whole, then most of these products would be priced out of the market. The prices of all these goods and services are pure illusion, a bookkeeper's slight of hand.

[m.pearce]

Thankfully DW brings these important documentaries to life. It's heartening to know someone cares to do this type of selfless work. High kudos and all the Best energies to those fighting oil companies

[lowwastehighmelanin]

My dad was a roughneck at TOSCO (Now Martinez Oil and Gas Co in Martinez, CA) and I'm almost positive pollutant exposure is why we both have health problems. I used to do his laundry for him as a kid

[BangBangBang.]

There was a viral video of this lady's dog going crazy and digging holes into the sidewalk. She said her Husky never dug holes because they live in a big city but they had a small yard. Sure enough that Husky was going crazy. She goes outside with her gas meter that a lot of residents would keep to check their stoves and heaters. The detector was beeping like crazy and blinking red. There was a gas leak underground

[GhibliHeroine]

This is a scandal; these things must be closed immediately

[RichardAddison]

Superb report. Very well done DW. Plenty of work for the future. Five stars

[Ngaatizulu]

Without DWs investigative journalism we would still be walking around thinking at least we are not having war so we are safe 😮 this is insightful

[chrisvig]

People complain windmills kill a couple birds…oil and gas has damaged and killed literally millions of animals and humans 😯

[northofthewall_]

As a Petroleum Engineer, seeing wells with water flowing to surface is tough to watch. Most countries would not allow this - and especially not here in Canada. It’s sad that US Regulations don’t have a mechanism to resolve this issue. As a consumer, source your natural gas responsibly! We all use it - whether as fuel for heating, electricity for our EVs, or plastics at our hospitals.

[Elysian-III]

Make billions on selling this stuff, but it's too expensive to take care of the maintenance cost. It's like saying you're rich but still rely on food stamps

[sandrasherwood]

I live in Pennsylvania. This is like watching a horror movie. Makes me feel like the earth is already beyond the tipping point.

[maritza]

This is the reality that others want to exclude from us.