The oil and gas industry is sitting on a ticking environmental and financial liability. Around the world, millions of wells have been drilled to date, many more will be drilled, and all will eventually need to be plugged and abandoned. Today, the US alone has thousands of orphaned and marginal wells, many leaking methane, a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide. With underfunded asset retirement obligations and inconsistent plugging practices of the past, the sector faces mounting pressure to act—but struggles to finance solutions at scale.

There is a potential solution: the voluntary carbon credit market. In this episode, I interview David Stewart, President of Engineering and Environment at Sendero Services, who explains how new carbon methodologies are turning methane leaks into monetizable credits.

By quantifying emissions avoided through proper plugging, validating permanence with reserves analysis, and using blockchain for traceability, these credits offer a science-based, verifiable way to fund environmental remediation.

Methane credits tied to oil and gas wells are not only more reliable than many nature-based offsets, but also ripe for scale. Dave and I discuss the economics, digital technologies, and policy barriers shaping a new frontier in decarbonization finance.

David Stewart is President of Engineering and Environment at Sendero Services. He holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Policy and Management and brings over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. His career spans emissions measurement in California to executive roles at Encana, Bonanza Creek, and Crestone, where he led environmental compliance, strategic partnerships, and M&A. At Sendero, David leads efforts to transform the challenge of orphaned wells into an opportunity through the application of voluntary carbon credits.

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The views expressed in this podcast are my own and do not constitute professional advice.