(WO) — The Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) has launched a project to plug six orphaned gas wells in the coastal waters of Baffin Bay after natural gas leaks were reported by local residents.
The wells, located in the Cayo del Grullo area roughly 40 miles south of Corpus Christi, will be plugged through the RRC’s State Managed Plugging Program (SMP). In addition to plugging the wells, crews will remove associated well structures as part of the remediation effort.
The project is being funded through a portion of the $100 million appropriated by the Texas Legislature for emergency and technically challenging well-plugging operations. The effort also receives support through a memorandum of understanding between the RRC and the Texas General Land Office (GLO), which includes $3 million in GLO funding for work in Baffin Bay, Humble Channel and Pita Island.
According to the RRC, the wells were identified as high-priority candidates after reports of natural gas leakage. The agency said the project aligns with its risk-based approach to plugging orphaned wells that pose the greatest potential threat to public safety and the environment.
“Our substantial experience in managing unique well plugging operations gives us expertise that other agencies—and most importantly Texans—can rely on,” said RRC Executive Director Wei Wang.
The coastal plugging campaign builds on the Commission’s recent offshore remediation work. In 2025, the RRC received the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission’s Chair’s Stewardship Award for its role in a multi-agency effort to plug eight orphaned wells in Matagorda Bay, one of the most complex offshore orphaned well abandonment projects undertaken in U.S. waters.
The Baffin Bay project is expected to be completed later this year.
As of June 10, the State Managed Plugging Program had plugged 1,688 wells during fiscal year 2026. Since its creation in 1984, the program has plugged more than 47,000 orphaned wells across Texas.
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