Oracle Finds Climate Action Underground

Oracle and Well Done Foundation are plugging New Mexico's highest-emitting orphaned wells, cutting methane and building local expertise

2 Jun 2026

Orphaned oil and gas wells have haunted New Mexico communities for decades. Methane leaks, contaminated groundwater, and unattended surface hazards mark sites abandoned by defunct operators with nobody left to close them. A collaboration announced May 20, 2026, between Oracle and Well Done Foundation sets out to change that, funding the assessment of ten wells and the full plugging and restoration of the two highest-emitting sites in the state.

Quantified impact sits at the center of the deal. Sealing a single high-emitting well cuts methane equivalent to removing more than 3,000 gasoline vehicles from state roads each year, per EPA estimates. Across the full project, the partners are targeting a reduction of more than 60,000 metric tons of CO₂e, a defined and auditable outcome rather than a headline promise.

Every well is measured for gas flux, pressure, temperature, and fluid releases before plugging begins. Results feed into Well Intel, Well Done Foundation's field management platform, making findings accessible to regulators, landowners, and nearby communities. That kind of data accountability is increasingly the price of admission for credible environmental partnerships.

Workforce development is woven in as well. Oracle's grant funds two local scholarships for New Mexico residents to qualify as Orphan Well Measurement Specialists, directly addressing the technician shortage that has slowed cleanup programs despite the availability of federal remediation dollars.

"Oracle's support allows us to tackle this challenge more immediately by safely closing wells today," said Curtis Shuck, Chairman of Well Done Foundation. For Oracle, the initiative connects to broader infrastructure investment in Doña Ana County, giving the partnership geographic as well as environmental logic.

About 3.5 million unplugged abandoned wells sit across the US. No single collaboration closes that gap. What this one demonstrates is that outcome-driven corporate funding, measurable, credentialed, and data-backed, is building a new template for how technology companies engage with America's long-deferred cleanup problem.