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Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

Would you be able to replicate this with the heavy equipment and movements needed to plug orphaned oil wells? In Texas alone, it's a TAM of ~$38B, and ~$150B for the entire US.

The Looming Disaster Under America's Biggest Oil Field [video] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45361022 - September 2025

Texas has thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells. Who is responsible for cleaning them up? - https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/08/texas-orphan-wells-e... - May 8th, 2025

The Rising Cost of the Oil Industry’s Slow Death - https://www.propublica.org/article/the-rising-cost-of-the-oi... - February 22nd, 2024

Well plugging SOP:

https://www.epa.gov/natural-gas-star-program/well-plugging

https://www.osha.gov/etools/oil-and-gas/abandoning-well

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It is possible. One good thing about our retrofit is it works on any hydraulic equipment, and not just excavators, although we are focussed on excavators for now. We are able to retrofit any hydraulic machinery because we actuate the joystics connected to the valves, which are quite standardized and usually come from handful of companies like Bosch. Will definitely 'dig' more into this though.

Your service will need to be cheaper than just lobbying the current federal government.

Skate to where the puck is going. By the time they're ready for prod (2-4 years), regime change might have occurred. Be ready with a solution to this environmental problem at that time. Lots of oil and gas infra over the next few decades that will require remediation after the world transitions to low carbon energy and electrification, while declining fertility rates globally will mean a shrinking pool of workers to pick from for the human labor component.

Locales who don't want their aquifers contaminated will also be motivated in the near term to get this work done. They would be great test cases for proof of value of this automation imho.

(think in systems)

Very optimistic thinking in your first 2 sentences there...

Says somebody who has clearly never worked in oil and gas.

I haven't worked in the industry, but a family member does and owns several wells (ie the mineral rights) in Texas, passed down from their deceased parent who was a rig worker.

If you would be so kind as to suggest resources so that I can better educate myself in this domain for any missing nuance, I am open to any and all resources, including me traveling on my own dime to speak with a subject matter expert in person (who I am willing to compensate at a reasonable hourly rate).

Talk to people working in oil and gas at the executive level, or even better, try selling stuff to them. Oil and gas operates on a very different mindset than the nibbling-at-margins product-led-growth models that are so prevalent on HN.

The only metric that matters at the end of the day is how to print more money i.e. drill more oil. Literally nothing else matters, and compliance goes to the lowest bidder to make the problem go away. Right now that means playing nice with the whitehouse and hopefully bypassing the rest of the pesky EPA. I assure you not a single person in oil and gas likes the EPA, nor the infamous Subpart W.

Could a mini tunnel boring machine plug a well, from the side?

That's definitely a thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relief_well

Is there a name for resealing an aquifer at each layer? Rezonal isolation, Zonal isolation, Zonal Re-isolation?

/? Zonal isolation Wikipedia: https://www.google.com/search?q=zonal+isolation+Wikipedia :

> Well cementing, Completion, Squeeze job, Cement bond log, Casing (should prevent fluid from contaminating e.g. aquifer zones)

Orphan wells: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_wells :

> they estimate there are 29 million abandoned wells internationally

Orphaned wells in the United States: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphaned_wells_in_the_United_S... :

> According to the Government Accountability Office, the 2.1 million unplugged abandoned wells in the United States could cost as much as $300 billion

> TAM of ~$38B, and ~$150B for the entire US.

Sigh. No. Actual TAM is $0 which is why these wells are orphaned

For contrast, maritime shipping IMO (my current obsession) has set a $100-$400 carbon price. So now the efuel market a realistic $10B ZNZ pot to aim at.

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