Tradewater has acquired Carbon Shield, a Colorado company that plugs actively leaking orphaned oil and gas wells. The deal expands Tradewater's methane abatement operations into Colorado and Wyoming, giving it access to Carbon Shield's technical expertise and pipeline of wells awaiting remediation. Tradewater says its completed projects in Illinois, Indiana, and Kansas have prevented emissions equivalent to over 1.6 million metric tons of CO2. Orphaned wells are those without a financially responsible owner, and many continue leaking methane, a potent greenhouse gas about 80 times stronger than CO2 over 20 years. The EPA estimates over 141,000 documented orphaned wells exist nationwide, with hundreds of thousands more possibly undocumented. Tradewater identifies leaking wells, coordinates plugging, and converts the emissions reductions into verified carbon credits sold to companies like Workday and Duke University. The acquisition also brings on Taylor Heffner, Carbon Shield's former VP of operations, a petroleum engineer with over a decade of experience in Colorado's oil and gas industry. This move supports Tradewater's goal to prevent at least 30 million metric tons of CO2-equivalent emissions by 2030 through methane projects and other superpollutant work like destroying old refrigerants.
