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The vast majority of U.S. oil wells produce very little oil. That might sound like a paradox, but it's just what happens when geology, economics and policy collide. NPR's Camila Domonoske reports on how a little bit of oil can be a very big deal both for producers making money and environmentalists concerned about greenhouse gases.
CAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE: There are parts of the world where you can still stick a drill into the earth and the oil just comes gushing out. Oklahoma is not one of them, not anymore.
SCOTT ROBINOWITZ: The easy oil is gone.
DOMONOSKE: Scott Robinowitz has been pulling oil out of the ground for 25 years. Last year, he walked me through his Bird Creek oil field, packed with pump jacks, like oversized hammers swinging back and forth above the wells. There's still oil underground, but after a century of production, what's left is hard to get out. Imagine the oil reservoir is a big cup of soda packed with ice. Stick in a straw...
(SOUNDBITE OF STRAW SUCKING)
DOMONOSKE: ...And the first sip is easy. But the emptier it gets, the less you get with each sip.
(SOUNDBITE OF STRAW GURGLING)
DOMONOSKE: Or Robinowitz's metaphor...
ROBINOWITZ: A reservoir is like a balloon. You pull out the oil, there's less energy to drive the oil, gas and water to the wellbore.
DOMONOSKE: Old wells and depleted reservoirs drip rather than gush, not just in Oklahoma. Across the country, 77% of oil wells combined make just 6% of the country's oil. They're called marginal wells, typically first drilled by big companies and then sold off once they slow down. But even a marginal bit of oil can still be worth a chunk of money. And government policy has long encouraged keeping these old wells open so none of that oil goes to waste. There are special tax breaks, and the industry fights hard to keep them. Robinowitz is extending the lifespan of his old wells, actively working to squeeze more oil out. He walked me over to one of his wells first drilled in the 1920s by Texaco and pumping today.
So how much oil does this well make?
ROBINOWITZ: This well makes about three barrels a day.
DOMONOSKE: Three barrels a day is pretty close to nothing. New wells average over a thousand per day. But everything is relative. This well still makes thousands of dollars a month, and Robinowitz has hundreds of wells. Marginal wells are a growing concern for environmentalists. While these wells make 6% of U.S. oil, studies suggest they're responsible for more like half of the oil industry's methane pollution. Methane - or natural gas - is often found with oil, and it's a very potent greenhouse gas when it leaks into the atmosphere. Adam Peltz is with the Environmental Defense Fund.
ADAM PELTZ: Marginal wells are not a marginal issue. There's 800,000 of them. Most wells are marginal wells. Every well eventually becomes a marginal well.
DOMONOSKE: Peltz argues government policy should put more focus on keeping marginal wells from polluting.
PELTZ: We need to figure out a way to make sure that these wells don't emit, they get plugged when they're done and the people who have been relying on them economically still have a way to survive economically. So it's a big challenge, but it's time for us to take it on.
DOMONOSKE: Kara Joy McKee with the Sierra Club of Oklahoma says this issue is personal to Oklahomans.
KARA JOY MCKEE: Almost everyone in Oklahoma has someone in their family working in oil and gas or knows someone, loves someone working in oil and gas.
DOMONOSKE: But she argues...
MCKEE: These piddly little wells that are just drip-drabbing out a little bit of profit while polluting on the other end, they're not worth it. The health costs to our society and the future costs to our world are really way too high to pay.
DOMONOSKE: Robinowitz doesn't deny climate science. He recognizes making oil and gas comes at an environmental cost, a cost which isn't factored into the finances of these aging wells. But when he looks at marginal wells, he sees opportunity. These wells don't have a lot of oil left in them, but they could still have a lot of life.
How long will it be able to make three barrels a day?
ROBINOWITZ: This well will be here as long as we manage the reservoir. This well should be here for another 30 or 40 years.
DOMONOSKE: Making a little bit of oil for a long, long time.
Camila Domonoske, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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