News & Alerts
May 3, 2022 COGCC AMENDED FINANCIAL ASSURANCE RULES ARE NOW EFFECTIVE
The amended Financial Assurance Rules adopted by the COGCC on March 1, 2022, are now effective as of April 30, 2022. The Financial Assurance Rulemaking was mandated by SB19-181, which directed the Commission to ensure that every Operator provide assurance that it is financially capable of fulfilling every obligation imposed by the Oil and Gas Act. Among other things, the revised Rules create several plugging and abandoning incentives, require the development of an Operator-specific “Financial Assurance Plan”, increase financial assurance amounts for Operators, require single well financial assurance for low producing and inactive wells, increase blanket surface owner protection bonds, increase insurance requirements, increase financial assurance oversight of wells transferred to a new owner, and create an orphan well fund through Operator registration fees. Specifically, as of April 30, 2022, all Operators of one or more Wells must submit to the COGCC a Financial Assurance Plan by the following dates: Operators with over 50 Wells by July 1, 2022, for Operators with greater than 10 but fewer than 50 Wells by October 1, 2022, and for Operators with 10 or fewer Wells by December 31, 2022. The revised Rules and Rulemaking materials can be found on the COGCC website: https://cogcc.state.co.us/reg.html#/rules.