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

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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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Опубликовано:

30 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 943

@Czechbound 8 месяцев назад

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

@SigFigNewton 8 месяцев назад

No, it is important to continue to give unfair advantages to dirty energy

@freemansaquatics5326 8 месяцев назад

@@SigFigNewton we desperately need a giant jump in an everlasting energy source.... Until fusion gets perfected all of the s*** is a waste of time to debate over, it's all terrible for our environment our planet

@freemansaquatics5326 8 месяцев назад

@@SigFigNewton one last bit when the Europeans came over here and met the native Americans we should have respected their way of life and learned how to live off of this land not pillage it

@JBSbass 8 месяцев назад

@@freemansaquatics5326 if you're wating for fusion then give up. it takes more energy than it produces by a scale that is mostly a secret and after decades has produced nothing. Fusion for energy is a cover.

@Veeger 7 месяцев назад

@@freemansaquatics5326 The European settlers used and abused the land. That attitude continues in this industry. After all , they have shareholder profits to think about and bonuses. They can easily afford to sort out their mess.

@puffinjuice 8 месяцев назад

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

@marconius101 8 месяцев назад

you try making people 10 cent more per gallon of gas....

@tehgerbil 8 месяцев назад

We should ask why the state allows them to do so, and how many people in that state have shareholdings in the companies.

@danmahon127 8 месяцев назад

💯

@markusklein7222 8 месяцев назад

Its because the State is corrupt

@bunyip7343 8 месяцев назад

@@marconius101 That is one of the problems.... the US have very low fuel prices. Many other countries (especially in Europe) have much higher prices (mostly taxes) on their fuel - meaning that there are a lot less V8's and other fuel inefficient vehicles on the roads. People are also more likely to use bikes or walk for short trips to the supermarket etc. In Sweden we pay approx USD 1.90 per litre... about USD 7.20 per gallon. Average price in the US today is USD 3.15 per gallon... or USD 0.83 per litre.

@theconqueringram5295 8 месяцев назад

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

@markusklein7222 8 месяцев назад

You need a reminder for that ?

@oasis5683 8 месяцев назад

Yet, you want to work to make money from the evil. The money is the root cause of all evil, you and I are guilty of it.

@podgee7507 8 месяцев назад

yet, you still oil (Gas) for car and gas for cooking ????

@1112viggo 8 месяцев назад

Perhaps they would be if they where held to the same legal standards as everyone else. You know? When they pay taxes and provide jobs with fair wages to people who makes quality products at a reasonable price in a sustainable manner, then who can object? They problem starts when we allow them to bribe politicians and escape responsibility.

@danielsmith337 8 месяцев назад

It's greed , not evil . You act like they like killing people . The governments are the ones allowing it nc their pockets get fat for turning their cheek. And when they can't deny facts they slap them on the wrist until next time

@rustyring4589 8 месяцев назад

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

@WarriorGirl_113 8 месяцев назад

Gates at his finest!!! Once again. One of his companies in the UK has had a patent on a cov9teen vaccine since 2017

@SigFigNewton 8 месяцев назад

Well it is better for the environment if we eat plants

@WarriorGirl_113 8 месяцев назад

@@SigFigNewton thing is we all have plastic in our blood! Search it 👀

@rustyring4589 8 месяцев назад

Not really, when you consider the amount of pesticides used and the damage to wild life and the environment from pesticides.

@voyagein2thecoreofthenight700 8 месяцев назад

who is telling you that? individual cars are responsible of 60% of all greenhouses gaz... i guess as you are in the US nobody is telling you that right? cuz youwant to continue to drive your giant car... alone..

@conquistador1425 8 месяцев назад

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

@supermantom2456 8 месяцев назад

Money

@harrieelias5756 7 месяцев назад

I love your expression of such disheartening disregard dishonesty against innocent people.

@Solomon_TY 8 месяцев назад

DW again with another insightful documentary

@DWDocumentary 8 месяцев назад

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment.

@alternativeview99 8 месяцев назад

Atleast no American Propaganda today.

@snicker576 8 месяцев назад

@@DWDocumentaryJust please be nice to oil from now on 🙌

@asajayunknown6290 8 месяцев назад

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.

@obtuseangler768 8 месяцев назад

Work on oil and gas even in a developed country like Canada for a few years and you see some crazy, crazy stuff compared to other industries I've been in.

@EndritVj 8 месяцев назад

@@obtuseangler768Money, my friend, doesn’t care how developed a country is.

@teekolinski491 8 месяцев назад

@@EndritVjso true. 😢

@lowwastehighmelanin 8 месяцев назад

That part

@osmankalif3500 8 месяцев назад

Norway is pretty safe ? A norwegian exec said he wouldnt let his kids work on british sector tho

@puffinjuice 8 месяцев назад

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.

@vapourkl5324 8 месяцев назад

Exactly. only way is force those companies to pay up until the leak stops.

@Drobert882 7 месяцев назад

You can't once a well is punched it can only be filled with concrete and that plug isn't permanent time brakes down everything that's the nature of things

@puffinjuice 7 месяцев назад

@@Drobert882 Well now I am scared. How was digging wells permitted in the first place if there is no way to permanently plug a well? Do you know if a well stops leaking if all the oil has been removed? Or is that not possible with todays technology?

@anxiousearth680 7 месяцев назад

@@Drobert882 That's curious. Meanwhile with nuclear, "WE MUST KEEP IT SEALED UP FOR CENTURIES".

@Drobert882 7 месяцев назад

Actively monitoring it how ever what's the sun ? A big ball of radio active elements in constant reaction as is every star visible

@laurencevanhelsuwe3052 8 месяцев назад

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.

@Rnankn 8 месяцев назад

Absolutely. But economics obfuscates harm and measures benefit to create the possibility of profit. If nature had a cost, and harm was internalized, all business models would be unfeasible. Think about it, inflation is just nature and people becoming more valuable relative to capital - and it has to be reversed to ‘save capitalism’. Markets don’t work, but the only reason this insanity endures is because the state uses coercion to enforce private property. They call it freedom, but force me to live by this indefensible accounting disaster.

@WarriorGirl_113 8 месяцев назад

Yes!!! Over 6,000 daily products that we depend on are derived from them!!

@marconius101 8 месяцев назад

you can protest, threaten or beg them to clean up after themselves, all day. But at the end of that day, they have dinner with the politicians who make the rules. And together they decide to do NOTHING...

@TheGrindcorps 8 месяцев назад

How is that working out for Germany and the EU? The cost after they rejected Russian gas is destroying their economy and deindustrializing the country. The cost for LNG which is 4-20x as much now is nowhere near pricing to include external costs. There would be a revolt and governments would be overthrown if it were priced this way.

@peredavi 8 месяцев назад

You’re right. We should all be walking and using horses and mules!

@m.pearce3273 8 месяцев назад

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

@DWDocumentary 8 месяцев назад

Thanks for watching and for the feedback!

@deanseawa 8 месяцев назад

This is nothing more than a fear-mongering story that plays on the heart strings of the viewers in order to get people to watch it.

@Pixietink 2 месяца назад

Agree

@lowwastehighmelanin 8 месяцев назад

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. 8 месяцев назад

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

@NazriB 7 месяцев назад

Lies again? Gun Oil Union Gas

@GhibliHeroine 8 месяцев назад

This is a scandal; these things must be closed immediately

@lowwastehighmelanin 8 месяцев назад

they don't care. MONEY

@bar_coin 8 месяцев назад

Lol this is why drilling for oil should never be done to begin with. Once a hole has been created, it will continue to emit gases even if all the oil has already been extracted. Oil companies often use the logic of dormant volcanoes with oil drilling, saying if a volcano can go extinct, why can't oil holes go extinct either? What they don't know is that while extinct volcanoes no longer boils visible magma and lava, it still emits sulfuric gases, so in the same logic an oil hole can still emit gases like methane even if it is no longer producing oil. And closing these holes permanently is gonna be tricky either because with time, wear and tear can eventually break those seals so this is gonna be a lifetime (earth's lifetime not ours lol) maintenance.

@anbay771 7 месяцев назад

Scandalous😢

@RichardAddison 8 месяцев назад

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

@Ngaatizulu1 8 месяцев назад

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

@chrisvig123 8 месяцев назад

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

@0my 7 месяцев назад

But it's saved more than it's harmed. We should thank RESPONSIBLE gas companies for putting the methane to good use. If it just leaks into the air, it's very bad for health and environment. If we don't capture and use it, it will eventually escape unburned.

@Justathought81 7 месяцев назад

The issue isn’t the birds it’s just the fact that windmills cannot meet energy needs

@juliemunoz2762 4 месяца назад

Not a couple birds,it kills millions of birds every year. If you ever took the time to walk one of these windmill fields you would find a graveyard of birds.

@northofthewall_ 8 месяцев назад

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.

@johnfarling1537 7 месяцев назад

You’re very wrong. Canada has abandoned wells all over the place. Canada is as bad as the rest of them.

@suminshizzles6951 7 месяцев назад

You avin a laugh? Source your gas responsibly? If you buy from a "reputable" source the gas that comes through the pipe is still drilled and extracted by Shell Oiil, or Exxon, or Mobil or whoever. They are jsut resellers. There is no direct pipe to your house from the "reputable" source. And you, as an egineer, would know this. But you are not an engineer are you?

@12345anton6789 7 месяцев назад

Same thing as source your electricity responsibly, you have no idea if it comes from renewables, gas or coal…

@RokeJulianLockhart.s13ouq 7 месяцев назад

I don't use it at all, and its usage in plastic production isn't my usage of it.

@igostupidfast3 7 месяцев назад

@@RokeJulianLockhart.s13ouqit's in alot more things than you think, like lubricants that don't go in cars

@Elysian-III 5 месяцев назад

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

@sandrasherwood3983 7 месяцев назад

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

@robinhood4640 6 месяцев назад

No, it's our collective intelligence that has reached a tipping point. We have reached a point where we are so stupid collectively, that we are too stupid to even realise how stupid we are.

@maritza7461 8 месяцев назад

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

@Mr_SAIYAN-6 8 месяцев назад

That rancher is a dude. Just saying.

@imchris5000 7 месяцев назад

a big problem with chevron is they bought out gulf oil and with that buyout almost nothing was up to spec. gulf oil left a 50 million gallon tank of benzene near my town to rot and it all leaked out into the ground water which most people in the area had shallow water wells that got ruined. the state had to build a water pipeline because everyone lost their wells do to the benzene

@debsgirl8 4 месяца назад

Where do you live can I ask

@kineticdeath 7 месяцев назад

if the state is plugging those wells, that means its the taxpayers, not the tax-dodging multinationals who exploited the land for x years untill it was not longer profitable

@Fido-vm9zi 2 месяца назад

@123pangolin 8 месяцев назад

ominous music too loud, can' hear the humans

@quickcinemarecap 8 месяцев назад

00:16 Abandoned oil and gas wells pose a ticking time bomb 13:45 Improperly sealed oil and gas wells pose life-threatening risks due to negligence and lack of maintenance. 19:41 Abandoned oil and gas wells pose chronic benzene exposure risks. 22:21 Abandoned oil and gas wells pose significant environmental and safety risks. 27:19 significant risk as they are causing gushing saltwater and potential ecological disaster. 30:22 North Sea pose a significant risk due to methane emissions. 36:09 36,000 idle oil and gas wells pose a risk of not being properly cleaned up. 38:37 Oil and gas industry strategy for low-producing wells

@tylerlormand5644 7 месяцев назад

we got it

@MrDertien 7 месяцев назад

Maybe Thunberg, Kerry and Gore should be given a yellow jacket and a spanner to help clean this mess up instead of flying to Davos in private jets to talk about cows.

@anyaseibold5273 7 месяцев назад

Why are none of the inspectors wearing gas monitors especially the one that goes and sniffs the gas? Did he know H2S could be present?

@GCStalker 7 месяцев назад

UK 22/4b-4 Mobil North Sea, High Seas Driller. Shallow gas blowout in 1990, still leaking 2024.

@Mr.House_ 8 месяцев назад

humans did this and now nature is fighting back.

@Fido-vm9zi 2 месяца назад

Imagine the Earth is a living being.

@scotshabalam2432 7 месяцев назад

The background "music"(?) is giving me a headache. Real news doesn't need a soundtrack.

@Nabraska49 8 месяцев назад

Just goes to show how quickly we are running out of fossil fuel.

@hime273 8 месяцев назад

Crude oil does not come from Fossils, and definately isn't running out.

@EL-Ki-Yanas 5 месяцев назад

Fossils have nothing to do with it. That was something coined by Rockefeller himself to trick the masses into thinking that oil was a valuable asset. Before Standard oil, electricity was being used.

@adityabaghaswara534 8 месяцев назад

Different cinematics from other DW's vid, very intriguing. Also, thank you DW for the information you gave to us, it'll bring more insight about the effect of human activity to the environment. Keep up the good work team DW

@scipdiddly 8 месяцев назад

Whoever directs the music for these DW docos OVERDOES THE MUSIC.

@lamonterolaclan355 8 месяцев назад

We as humans will eventually destroy what we have! All about the bottom line! The money!

@rossgee2950 7 месяцев назад

We have 270,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in the province of Alberta Canada. We also have higher rates of respiratory disease, MS, and certain types of cancer of all provinces in Canada. Oil and gas processing also emits harmful chemicals from both gas plants and flaring of waste gas. Some of those include toxic heavy metals such as mercury and cadmium.

@georgehancock2307 7 месяцев назад

Yes but without the oil industry Alberta is Manitoba with mountains.

@rossgee2950 7 месяцев назад

So you are saying that we should just let oil companies profit from the provinces natural resources without expecting them to be obligated to safely decommission their wells when they are done. Seems kinda one-sided to me. @@georgehancock2307

@hidefninja 7 месяцев назад

Flaring is a good thing unless there is black smoke. Flaring can burn off 99% of what would have been had it been vented to atmosphere

@brandonh8910 7 месяцев назад

I live in Oklahoma, I had an abandoned well wake up and start producing gas in my backyard. We had a terrible oder and the local mineral owner would not do anything. I had to go out in the woods and find it and shut it down myself.

@briankrahn2000 8 месяцев назад

As an ex rig worker I know 1st hand that this comes from working to fast. If the well was a plug job it was always a big panic to plug the well to move on to the next job. Years later I remember moving back onto abandoned wells and re drilling and re plugging these wells.

@JoseLeon-xv2rq 8 месяцев назад

90% of human population would be wiped ou with out oil so who cares. We clearly contribute to this by driving every day so if you drive your most like apart of the 90% that wont make it if we ran out of oil

@Jc-ms5vv 8 месяцев назад

100% is going to be wiped out if we continue to use it or don’t

@tylerlormand5644 7 месяцев назад

not at all betta learn to walk

@PapaTanGh0stNI9htM4R3S0nMaInSt 8 месяцев назад

The toxic narsties from them old wells will be a headache for eons.

@SigFigNewton 8 месяцев назад

And a stomach ache And vomiting Surprise! Cancer!

@sonalfernando2342 8 месяцев назад

Electrifying haters, where are you ??

@nbl1807 7 месяцев назад

Recently watched the video about making a beautiful furniture made from epoxy. Now it seems like a trend. 20 years ago I could not imagine that you can make nicest stuff out of epoxy. Guess what is the source of producing epoxy?

@DaveTan65 4 месяца назад

Cap and Tap. I bought a property near one of these abandoned wells. I then proceeded to jerry rig an 80s micro gas to power turbine to power my farm and homestead. Yes, I used a concrete dome to "cap" and then tap it my generator. "free" power 24/7. Do this on the down low though, bury the pipes.

@chrisw.5138 4 месяца назад

I would like to hear more about how this problem can be turned into an opportunity, not sure if it comes up in this doc, not finished watching yet.

@kristinab1078 3 месяца назад

Innovative...

@amcoelhoeng 3 месяца назад

Thanks DW. Extraordinary documentary.

@DWDocumentary 3 месяца назад

Thanks for watching!

@ThemFuzzyMonsters 7 месяцев назад

… and yet, you hear “drill baby, drill!” from our “leaders”.

@fomosewoyeba7872 8 месяцев назад

Thank you DW for bringing it true and raw to us. This js really sad for the future of humanity.

@DWDocumentary 8 месяцев назад

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment.

@UserName_no1 7 месяцев назад

This documentary is being produced by a German broadcasting company mostly about oil wells in America. Not an American broadcasting company. Let that sink in.

@BallyporeenClogheenBurncourtHe 7 месяцев назад

I love the local doctor who knew immediately toxicology tests would be revealing, because the advice letter said not to do that 😊. Red Flag. Great documentary DW a real eye-opener. Isn't it tragic that humans are so devalued by corporate greed, irresponsiblity and ineffective governance and oversight. Past generations respected nature because our very survival depended on nature from season to season and necessitated a symbiotic relationship. Sadly those who exploit the world's resources are so rich and removed from the source of their bounty that they never face or experience the consequences of their negligence but you can bet they know what they're leaving behind and the potential risks to nature and humanity. Well done to the environmentalists and individuals calling out these crimes against humanity and nature. Lets hope they are supported in obtaining redress and remedial action quickly.

@yepyep6916 8 месяцев назад

You would think conservatives whose base is rural America would be staunch supporters of environmental policy/regulation….but they vote against their own self interests as usual.

@vsharan2k 7 месяцев назад

Well done DW, that's the sort of documentary one is after..a follow-up would be so much better!

@DWDocumentary 7 месяцев назад

Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts!

@0my 7 месяцев назад

Yes. Please involve the environmental impact of blowing up the German-Russian pipeline, and the cost of importing methane from America.

@equarg 7 месяцев назад

@@0mymeh. Russia probably did it. Plus we needed to stop giving Russia money. Norway is a cleaner better source anyways. They have long long term plans that we (the USA) can learn from.

@0my 7 месяцев назад

@@equarg that doesn't make sense. Russia could have just turned it off.

@canonest 8 месяцев назад

They have been able to capture radiation from Chernobyl with a giant concrete & lead dome. if you are not able to solve this "gas" leak, it is your incompetence.

@meb5205 7 месяцев назад

Documentaries like these helped convince me to get a vasactomy. No way I'll bring more humans onto this planet, getting prepped to work for corporations like these as soon as they can welk and then deal with housing issues, climate change and politicial nonsense. I love my non-existing children too much to put them through all that.

@equarg 7 месяцев назад

As a woman I took a vow of celibacy. My gut knows the future is bleak. I will not bring kids into this world. To much short term and long term danger.

@timbookedtwo2375 8 месяцев назад

DW does not even have to look across the pond. In Germany there are literally thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells. That's right in Germany. I know from an oil field worker that in the abandoned fields around Hanover there are many leaky wells. I'm not against oil and gas. I just want the companies to stop polluting. They privatize profits and socialize the financial and environmental costs.

@jam6636 7 месяцев назад

This is the most murican kinda documentary DW has ever produced. Incredibly you have sort of achieved a good balance between "the dramatic shots, flash edits and animations" with information and good narrative. Please never fall into rethorical questioning every 10 sentences and the dramatic shots should be more National Geographic early 2000´s and less A&Eish. Keep it up DW!

@ChattyCheugy 5 месяцев назад

Made it unwatchable. Was interested but kept fighting the royalty free music and sound effects and just really everything about the nature in which this was made haha

@kristinab1078 3 месяца назад

murican?

@realemonful 7 месяцев назад

If these wells supposedly leak so mush methane gas, why not trap it and use it for energy?

@MrSvenovitch 8 месяцев назад

Another reason I don't have kids: German documentaries trying to scare you from dusk til dawn and then all through the night.

@IngramPetersJr-nr7rm 8 месяцев назад

You just want kids. 😂

@0my 7 месяцев назад

Be brave. Be strong.

@DOWNTOWN_AUDIO 3 месяца назад

We call them orphan wells in Canada. There was one in my city, started leaking two years ago in may. It shut down a main busy road for 3 months while they brought a drilling rig in to fix it. It leaked natural gas because we're on top of a huge gas deposit. Luckily it was caught and fixed but there's hundreds of them within city limits. Most are from the late 1800s and early 1900s and the companies that drilled them don't even exist anymore and nobody remembers their names. Most of these wells are buried under roads, under bushes and trees, even houses as the city found a few years ago. A well was drilled across from what was the original hospital. Now the police station sits on its spot, and there's a subdivision across the street and beside it. Underneath the corner house's basement beside a main road the city found an orphan well. Luckily not leaking but the owner had to vacate his home and they tore down that whole street. It's destructive, polluting and cancerous. Alot of people get cancer young around here, or get heart, lung or liver/kidney issues cause we have so much dust from our clay soil and semi desert climate. It would be nice if our government could fix these wells, but I understand that the problem is far too big for just one municipal government to handle.

@Fido-vm9zi 2 месяца назад

Absolutely. Like you said many old companies & sites.

@rickdeckard7470 8 месяцев назад

I lived in Porter Ranch next to golf course.. So glad I sold my home and moved out before the gas leak. I used to mtn bike in those hills.

@Primo_extracts 7 месяцев назад

Imagine if the petroleum companies actually cleaned up their messes they be half as wealthy as they are, because they've made the biggest mess of our mother🌎

@prestonhanson501 8 месяцев назад

Open pit mines are really awful for the enviroment but nobody cares about that to make ev cars

@Sang-Je 7 месяцев назад

it is appalling we let these worldwide companies destroy our only home without accountability or recourse.

@MADGUNSMONSTER 8 месяцев назад

DW Documentary Excellent work, as per your usual. Keep 'em coming in 2024!

@DWDocumentary 8 месяцев назад

Thanks for watching and for the feedback!

@francescobaruffi999 8 месяцев назад

Yall complain about oil wells but ya depend on gasoline, natural gas and plastic each and every day. Jokes on you 😅

@Urgleflogue 8 месяцев назад

There are enough resources on this planet to cover all peoples needs. But not enough for their greed.

@40Acres_and_A_Mule 7 месяцев назад

30k pounds wow that is majorly effd up wow? 30m each at least break the company i would have refused that settlement or pulled out of the suit filed myself

@martinwhite5076 8 месяцев назад

We really need to take these corporate giants like BP & ExxonMobil into public ownership and ensure they work for the benefit of humanity rather than return's on investments.... BP have a lot to answer for ! There's no solution under capitalism.

@PrezVeto 8 месяцев назад

There's no solution without capitalism.

@definitlynotbenlente7671 6 месяцев назад

@@PrezVetocapitalism is failing

@sutats 7 месяцев назад

Hopefully it's being plugged at a sustainable rate with society's move towards renewable energy.

@TheCure1. 8 месяцев назад

Old abandoned wells left by companies that are no longer in business should be taken care of by the government, and a special urgent budget every year allocated to them. For the functioning Wells, all should be linked to the companies occupying them and a special TAX should be established to maintain them once they are out of business or service. The oil and Gas lobby is killing us slowly. This is sad, greed is our enemy.

@mrs9848 8 месяцев назад

Why should government pay. Why not oil companies that made the cash 🤔

@TheCure1. 8 месяцев назад

@@mrs9848 Some of these companies are perhaps no more, so the government can only fine or tax those existing companies.

@definitlynotbenlente7671 6 месяцев назад

@@TheCure1.mabey oli companies should be held responsible for the damage they cause they should pay for the cleanup not the taxpayer

@TheCure1. 6 месяцев назад

@@definitlynotbenlente7671 You are right, but what about those long-gone companies? I am suggesting that the living companies should pay extra tax or a special tax to be used to maintain these wells once these companies are out of business.

@juliemunoz2762 4 месяца назад

80% of the funds will just be lost to corruption.

@etaokha4164 8 месяцев назад

America is a neglectful country about health to citizens

@maritza7461 8 месяцев назад

That's how we are today. Nobody cares about anyone. At least here they do research and show us the reality in which we live or are😮

@SigFigNewton 8 месяцев назад

Not caring about anyone It’s how capitalism fails is. Unpriced externalities.

@Fido-vm9zi 2 месяца назад

@@SigFigNewtonpretty fing pressing & important.

@mikemarcott1141 8 месяцев назад

All I can say is thank god we don't live forever

@samshepperrd 8 месяцев назад

It seems like a dome could be placed over the ocean floor leaks with a pipe to the surface where the gas could be collected or flared.

@obtuseangler768 8 месяцев назад

They flare off more gas then they capture for LNG by far...every oil well starts life as a gas well. I've seen them flare off enough to melt most of the snow off a several hectares at -40 for weeks on a lease.

@tehgerbil 8 месяцев назад

@@obtuseangler768The amount of gas flared off honestly blows my mind. Why aren't we collecting and using it? Sure storage is expensive, but it's such a waste. We could use that gas but we don't - and the answer to why is that it isn't as profitable. Ridiculous.

@zigzagtoes 8 месяцев назад

I feel the pressure of the ocean would crush any such pipe while it was just stood around waiting for something to fill the pipe.

@samshepperrd 8 месяцев назад

@@zigzagtoes If gas is constantly emitting, and rising up towards the surface, it will fill the hood or bell. If there were a pipe to the surface, the pressure of the gathering gas would force the gas up to the surface where it would be collected.

@zigzagtoes 8 месяцев назад

@@samshepperrd i get that, but, if there's no leak, then the pipe would be empty. So until there is a leak, there wouldn't be enough pressure to keep it structually sound. Ahh, sorry misread your first point. Yes if it were already leaking then it would work. I thought you meant cover abandoned well with a dome and pipe encase it did leak (ie premptive) whereas what you put is clearly as a reactive measure.

@kcjones6034 8 месяцев назад

What if oil is the Earth's 'blood' and we are the blood suckers leaving sores, 😐

@oneshothunter9877 7 месяцев назад

Earths blood would be water.

@chriscangdradaniel4846 8 месяцев назад

Brought to you by World Economic Forum

@snicker576 8 месяцев назад

100%

@Galbex21 7 месяцев назад

To the people that always criticize America, I hope this videos remind you that American people are also humans with problems and health issues. Just because some CEOs billionairs are American it dosent mean all Americans are having a good time.

@freemansaquatics5326 8 месяцев назад

Dramatic music at max on this one lol

@emilf7150 8 месяцев назад

Right? I could not focus on the documentary at times cause of the crazy music goin on xD

@samshepperrd 8 месяцев назад

I have to wonder about all the fracking wells in recent years. Seems like that must cause disruption underground that leads to the ground leaking.

@WarriorGirl_113 8 месяцев назад

They do! I know of a stay at home mom (may she rip) from Pennsylvania that her and her husband refused to allow the company to frack on their property but the nieghbor's did and it went under their property, leaked and she died from drinking her water!!!

@samshepperrd 8 месяцев назад

@@WarriorGirl_113 Thank G Dubya Bush.

@WarriorGirl_113 8 месяцев назад

your most welcome @@samshepperrd

@lowwastehighmelanin 8 месяцев назад

They're causing earthquakes and horrible water. Nothing to wonder about it's out there if you look

@lowwastehighmelanin 8 месяцев назад

@@WarriorGirl_113 horrible

@timothyjohnson6055 7 месяцев назад

Everyone, repost this repeatedly. Everyone needs to know.

@osmankalif3500 8 месяцев назад

Watching this from a gas platform in the north sea💪🏾

@realshaoran4514 7 месяцев назад

The only thing that is really annoying in this video is obnoxious soundtrack, this is a documentation, not a horror movie, that soundtrack is so misplaced and distracts from the actual message which is really important.

@kevinshaw8539 8 месяцев назад

Thank you for your reporting

@DWDocumentary 8 месяцев назад

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment.

@kurtilein3 8 месяцев назад

The house that completely exploded from the inside, it exploded because all residents were away, so they closed all doors and windows before they left. You cannot smell methane, but you can feel oxygen depletion, you just feel that you need to open a window or go outside. You learn that you only get a good night of sleep with a window partly open. So you unconsciously avoid the danger, even as the danger cannot be perceived directly. The inhabitants kept the building safe by somehow noticing a need for fresh air and managing it. Then they all went on vacation, closed all windows and doors for that, and BOOM, the building got blown into pieces. In Germany, natural gas is used a lot, but before it is fed into the natural gas grid, they add a smelly agent. So gas leaks smell in a particular, noticeable way. Burned gas does not smell, the smelly agent obviously is destroyed by burning it. So gas leaks have a scent, it smells bad put particular to a gas leak. It is also particular to unburned gas, so you can smell the difference between a small leak and a potential hazard.

@tylerlormand5644 7 месяцев назад

awe we know how germany uses gas

@irenafarm 7 месяцев назад

Natural gas supplied by utilities, is tagged with mercaptan here in the States as well. The gas that exploded that home was leaking from a natural underground source.

@kurtilein3 7 месяцев назад

@@irenafarm I would rather expect that the natural gas leaked from an unnaturally opened natural underground source. Like when flammable gas comes with the drinking water in some places AFTER fracking has been done.

@Chaos3183 8 месяцев назад

This should all be funded by the oil and gas companies. They did this!!! they should pay for it!!

@Dwohman 5 месяцев назад

I will bet that that woman ranchers' family was paid an oil lease or mineral rights for those wells. People want transparency? Then, let's have complete transparency.

@KenMaerran 8 месяцев назад

MLK said it 60 years ago: we need to move from a thing-oriented society to a people-oriented society...everything is about profit. "Oh, we can't make money with this any more, moving on!" I feel like businesses that operate on a physical product (natural resource mining, consumer products, even drugs) should always be required to deal with the "result" of their products. Clean up, recycling, and disposal with the latter being required to have near zero impact on the environment.

@KenMaerran 8 месяцев назад

Meanwhile, we give oil companies tax breaks while they make literal BILLIONS in profit. I think they can easily afford to clean up their messes...

@Rnankn 8 месяцев назад

It’s markets. Ownership turns everything into tradable commodities that are produced, consumed and discarded. It breaks the personal connection by turning nature and people into objects. Government should just nationalize the global energy system at this point, and be bound by constitutional amendments to protect natural integrity.

@SpaceGod718 7 месяцев назад

Damn I've never realized how big of a problem this is

@pantwidbrma4366 8 месяцев назад

This documentary is the best thing that I have ever seen,,, True story, beautiful... That's how it goes.

@nanucit 4 месяца назад

I'm devastated to see the descendants of those who profited from allowing oil rigs in their lands and not working a day in their life... Sweeties; what goes around comes around 😅

@heinsy707 8 месяцев назад

1 day someone will turn to someone and say we have an Fing problem here... And Nothing will come of it

@ShortReviewerRetroGames 8 месяцев назад

Do something then,

@ShortReviewerRetroGames 8 месяцев назад

You complain so make a company & go start removing these, I am, im going to start next week in Alberta Canada, commenting on RU-vid won't get change you have to go out yourself

@lo2740 8 месяцев назад

@@ShortReviewerRetroGames sure buddy, with a gaming and rap background it should be all good.

@ShortReviewerRetroGames 8 месяцев назад

@@lo2740 huh rap & gaming, Ive never gamed in my life, to much too do everyday to be playing games,

@bradbradshaw6082 8 месяцев назад

Wow.. So basically instead of holding corporations responsible we the people have to suffer the consequences and in my case pay carbon taxes when the abundance of wells like this end up polluting more then the cars they served before shutting them down..

@SaloestAeslinaydu 8 месяцев назад

As a worker in oil and gas industry in particular in drilling and completion operations I want to state that if a well is plugged and abandoned properly there are no risks at all. Everything else is just allegations based on nothing. If you have nothing to do with wells delivery please do not reply to me.

@weareallenemyofthestate9883 8 месяцев назад

So because you work in the oil and gas industry people can’t argue because they don’t work there? You should be a politician!!

@JusticeAlways 8 месяцев назад

You used the words "if" and "properly"....

@SaloestAeslinaydu 8 месяцев назад

@@weareallenemyofthestate9883 you can argue but you do not understand a thing in oil and gas business. Thank you to call me a politician😁

@SaloestAeslinaydu 8 месяцев назад

@@JusticeAlways yes, there are bad drillers for sure but for 20 years of my life I did not meet them. Maybe in the next 20 years something will change

@obtuseangler768 8 месяцев назад

@@SaloestAeslinayduhappen to know of a bad driller for Aramco. Just destroyed their spool on a 3387 well with their jetting tool! 3.7million it took to fix it and it's probably a duster

@Socurious548 8 месяцев назад

This documentary has some very good points. However there’s no recommendations? Who actually bears the responsibility for sealing these wells? Because it sounds like everything is pointing towards the government (aka taxpayers) instead of actually tracing the lineage of the wells- and holding the companies, who bought the company, who bought the company, etc. responsible. The O&G companies know…. Instead of making taxpayers pay, the need to be held accountable. But that involves politicians not taking $ (or €) from the O&G sector. And good luck with that.

@robinhood4640 6 месяцев назад

"Avoid performing any toxicological tests". Does this not imply that we are dealing with psychopaths?

@definitlynotbenlente7671 6 месяцев назад

Yeah anything for profit

@mubizz80 5 месяцев назад

Thank you, DW for your documentaries that open our minds. I would like to request your team to visit and document Kilembe Copper Mines Limited, a former open-cast mining area that closed back in 1982 but to date, there's no economic activity going on except devastating the Western Uganda regions, especially Kasese District.

@colemarsh13 8 месяцев назад

There's a century of reclamation of land.

@imfloridano5448 7 месяцев назад

My concern is the oils being removed from cavities in the earth and nothing being put back to replace the extracted oil and gas. Sink holes, or small earth quakes caused by the collapsing of the cavity

@Invading-Specious 8 месяцев назад

Its more cost-efficient to do nothing..

@turnandburnroadtripssouthe8432 8 месяцев назад

Maybe they need to quit studying cow farts and put money into this…

@NONAME-kw3pu 8 месяцев назад

$30,000 to cement an abandoned/orphaned well that was barely profitable when the new owners bought it HOPING to MAKE $$$$ but then the bottom falls out of the oil market and oil trades for $40/bbl... the well is a water well by then and without BIG $$$$$$ to stimulate it and HOPE that the well pays for the $$$ to re frac and acidize the formation???? 70% of wells do "better" after stimulation... "better" is not really defined? does it even pay for the acid/frac trucks/crews to come out and stimulate an old tired well??????

@jasonroberts2049 8 месяцев назад

My damn children are nowhere near any of this crap. Wake up every day coughing, clearing their little throats... and its not just my children. Wake up people!! Lets take back mother earth and then deal with everything else we are doing with our lives. While we still exist....

@tylerlormand5644 7 месяцев назад

cps