Projects Deploy Net-Zero-Focused Capital From Private Sector to Plug Orphan Oil and Gas Wells, an Otherwise Underfunded Public Responsibility
Rebellion Energy Solutions has earned a “BB” rating from BeZero Carbon, a leading global carbon-credit ratings agency. The rating is assigned to the nearly 2 million verified, validated carbon credits generated by its Heartland 2 project, which abates methane emissions from orphan oil and gas wells.
“These independent ratings highlight the quality of our work and its potential to transform the voluntary carbon market,” said Staci Taruscio, CEO of Rebellion Energy Solutions. “The ‘BB’ rating for Heartland 2 affirms our mission to address the environmental and safety risks posed by orphan wells while creating long-lasting benefits for the environment and the communities we serve.”
Rebellion Energy’s strategy is to generate high-quality carbon credits by tackling the environmental and health and human safety problem that orphan oil and gas wells create. By plugging orphan wells, the company generates methane-abatement credits with a certain, verified and immediate positive effect that is engineered to endure.
Rebellion Energy develops its projects under global carbon-crediting program ACR at Winrock International’s methodology. ACR issued the credits to Rebellion Energy for carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) it abated by plugging orphan oil and gas wells in Oklahoma that were leaking methane to the atmosphere.
Beyond the scrutiny of ACR’s methodology and the third-party validation of its projects, Rebellion Energy Solutions expects to continue to seek and receive independent ratings of its newly issued credits.
Carbon credits from Rebellion’s initial methane-abatement project, Heartland 1, earned a BeZero Carbon “A” rating on June 12. That project also was rated by Calyx Global, whose non-public ratings it makes available to subscribers.
Expanding the Portfolio of High-Quality Projects
Rebellion continues to grow its portfolio of premium methane-abatement projects. The company has two more ACR-listed projects, Heartland 3 and 4, that it expects to yield marketable carbon credits. These projects demonstrate Rebellion’s continuing commitment to scaling high-quality carbon credits that attract private-sector funding for methane mitigation and land restoration.
“Our growing portfolio is proof that environmental and economic progress can go hand in hand,” Taruscio added. “As we continue to expand, we are setting a standard for excellence in addressing the orphan-well problem.”
Heartland 2: Driving Environmental and Community Impact
The volume of CO2e abated in Rebellion’s Heartland 2 Project (ACR966) is equivalent to more than 185 million gallons of gasoline consumed, according to the U.S. EPA’s greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator. Rebellion’s project also ties to key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and mitigates legacy impacts for landowners and surrounding communities.
Rebellion designed the project, located in a historic oil-and-gas production basin in Oklahoma, to ensure the leaking methane is trapped thousands of feet below the surface. In addition, Rebellion worked with local landowners to restore the surface lands, which is beyond the scope of ACR’s methodology.
The wells Rebellion plugged in Heartland 2 are an average of 44 years old and had been unattended for more than a decade – with no ongoing maintenance or plugging activity to ensure well integrity and no assigned responsibility to complete the lifecycle of the wells. Rebellion assumed operational responsibility for the orphaned wells from the state government and privately funded the plugging and land-restoration. No state or federal funds were available for this work.