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Field notes

What we find at orphaned wells, and what it means for the credits.

Long reads from the field, the data and the methodology, written by the people doing the work. Each sits on the timeline where its story happened, beside the milestones that got us here.

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Methodology15 Oct 2026

Isometric’s Orphaned Well Plugging Protocol is open for public comment.

Isometric has published the draft of its protocol for plugging orphaned oil and gas wells. We have been a development partner on it over the past several months. It sets out how a leaking well is measured, how its emissions are projected and how credits are issued, and comments are open until 14 Nov 2026.

We would encourage anyone who buys, rates or verifies orphaned-well credits to read it and comment.

Read Isometric’s announcement →
IsometricDevelopment partnerCH4mber
Public comment openCloses 14 Nov 2026
Oct 2026
A CH4mber pickup parked beside an old pumpjack on a fenced pad, trees behind under a cloudy sky
ResearchPublished 14 Oct 20267 min read

A few orphaned wells carry most of the methane, and the obvious clues do not find them

Of 1,042 Oklahoma orphaned wells we tested, 17 hold 80% of the methane. Most signals meant to predict which ones did not hold up.

By Malcolm CameronRead the field note →
ResearchPublished 14 Oct 20265 min read

How long a leak lasts depends on a pressure nobody has measured

A leak is a choke on a tank. The choke sets the rate; the tank sets how long. Why the answer turns on an unmeasured pressure, and what would settle it.

By Malcolm Cameron
Oct 2026FieldMilestone145 leaking wells found at the wellhead, from more than 5,000 visited across six states since 2024

1,581 of those wells conclusively tested in Oklahoma and Texas.

Sept 2026
ResearchPublished 14 Oct 20267 min read

How orphaned wells are found and their methane measured, from orbit to the wellhead

A guide to the tools that find orphaned wells and measure their methane, from satellites to the wellhead, and what our test of two satellite products showed.

By Malcolm Cameron
ResearchPublished 14 Oct 20265 min read

Most orphaned wells have no production record to fit a decline curve to

83% of Oklahoma's listed orphaned wells predate the electronic production record. Where a history survives, a decline fit can flip sign.

By Malcolm Cameron
MethodologyPublished 14 Oct 20265 min read

Opening an orphaned well to measure its leak measures something else

A leak and an opened-well flow test on the same orphaned well can differ many times over, and credits scale with whichever one a project measured.

By Oliver Chornous
Sept 2026ResearchMilestoneEDF’s primers on credits from orphaned and marginal wells thank our team

We reviewed drafts of both issue primers, written with UT Austin.

Aug 2026
FieldPublished 14 Oct 20266 min read

Most of the wells we could not reach were stopped by a person, not the ground

We built a terrain score to predict which orphaned wells a truck could reach. Tested against 127 field visits, it predicted nothing. The gap was people.

By Malcolm Cameron
FieldPublished 14 Oct 20266 min read

When to stay in a survey area, when to leave, and when the data cannot say

The written rules our crews use to work an area harder or walk away, why they count wells measured, and why 'uncertain' is a verdict of its own.

By Malcolm Cameron
Aug 2026MethodologyMilestoneTaking part in the working group revising ACR’s orphaned-well method

The group met through 2026 to rewrite the methodology as version 2.0.

May 2026
May 2026MethodologyMilestoneWe become a development partner on Isometric’s orphaned-well protocol

The protocol sets out how a leaking well is measured, how its emissions are projected and how credits are issued.

Sept 2025
FieldPublished 14 Oct 20264 min read

Once a well is plugged, its leak can never be measured again

We measured Schnitzer #2 on four dates before we plugged it. After the cement, that record is all the evidence of its leak there will ever be.

By Mike Ness
4 Sept 2025FieldMilestoneSchnitzer #2 is plugged

Sealed with cement after four dates of as-found readings. After the plug, its leak can never be measured again.

May 2025
May 2025FieldMilestoneWe find and measure a leak at Schnitzer #2 in Alfalfa County

Measured as found, every valve closed. The first of four dates of readings.

Also in 2025
2025CompanyMilestoneLicensed, bonded and insured as an oil and gas operator in Oklahoma

What lets us take on an orphaned well as its operator, the step before plugging it.

Sept 2024
Sept 2024CompanyMilestoneCH4mber closes its first investment round

For press and partnership enquiries, please write to Oliver at oliver@ch4mber.io.

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