Mosaic Insurance on Wednesday announced a new environmental product line designed to cover companies remediating abandoned oil and gas wells across North America.
The policy offers up to $25 million in coverage per risk, Bermuda-based Mosaic said.
There are 2 million inactive, unplugged oil and gas wells across the U.S. that pose significant environmental and health threats, from leaking toxic chemicals to releasing methane gas, estimates the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The U.S. Orphaned Well Program, established in 2021 under America’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, provides $4.7 billion in funding to cap, plug and reclaim orphaned gas and oil wells on federal lands. Similar programs have been launched in Canada, Mosaic said.
“We saw an opportunity to bridge the divide between traditional Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL) and standard Control of Well (COW) policies,” Mosaic environmental specialist Max Horn said in the news release announcing the coverage.
Horn “worked closely with partners at (Aon PLC) and Tradewater, a project development company focused on preventing harmful greenhouse gases releasing into the atmosphere,” the release said.
