In 2020, the United States had more than 930,000 hydrocarbon-producing wells. Some 870,000 of them yielded less than 100 barrels of oil per day. These wells represent the bottom-quartile of the well stock as measured by annual production. Unfortunately, such wells are often maintained less frequently than the higher-rate, higher-value wells within an operator’s portfolio, leading to frequent hydrocarbon leaks into the environment and atmosphere.
In fact, wells in the lowest production category yielding less than 1 barrel of oil equivalent per day in the United States produce just 0.2% of oil and 0.4% of gas, yet account for a disproportionately massive 11% of annual methane emissions from all U.S. oil and gas production.
In the U.S. alone, early retirement of bottom-quartile wells could avoid 1 Gt CO2e per year—greater than the annual total GHG emissions of Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy.
At ZeroSix, we help producers, buyers, and market participants turn unextracted, unburned oil and gas into high-integrity carbon credits. We do this through digital MRV, carbon asset data infrastructure, and support for the generation, management, distribution, and transaction of industrial carbon credits.
We take the least economic and most polluting wells
Apply the ZeroSix protocol and anchor proofs digitally
Irreversibly shut in oil and gas
Convert the shut-in reserves into carbon credits
Which are traded on the Voluntary Carbon Market
Buyers access high-integrity carbon credits supported by auditable project data, transparent provenance, and digital workflows for evaluation, purchase, transfer, and retirement.
Contact us to discuss project development, credit availability, transactions, or platform access.email
