Biggest Offenders

Chevron

The report found Chevron was the largest holder of idle wells at 9,055. The epicenter of Chevron’s legion of idle wells sits in Kern County, where Chevron maintains 7,694 idle wells, or 85% of its grand total statewide. It is also the last oil major doing exploration and production in California, but in 2022 it sold its longtime headquarters and transferred the bulk of its staff to Houston, Texas, sparking rumors that it would soon exit the state as an oil producer.

Chevron claimed a profit of $35.5 billion in 2022 and $117 billion in the last 10 years. It would cost an estimated $1.7 billion to plug Chevron’s current idle wells, less than 5% of last year’s reported profit and 1% of the company’s profit over the past decade. Plugging all its wells (26,431) in California would cost $5.1 billion, ​or just 4.4% of its combined profits over the last 10 years.

Chevron’s profits are in large part a by-product of the company’s international tax-dodging tactics. In 2015, the company admitted during a U.S. Senate investigation that it held at least $31 billion in multiple offshore tax havens. In 2017, Reuters also documented how Chevron loaned money to itself to avoid paying taxes to the Australian government, which sued Chevron over the practice and recouped $268 million. In 2018 Dutch and International unions filed a complaint as well alleging “massive tax avoidance” by Chevron using Dutch subsidiaries created for that purpose. In 2023, the company was reported to have benefitted from a $15 billion tax write-off after acquiring fracking giant Hess Corporation.

While Chevron has not plugged the vast bulk of its orphan and idle wells yet, Chevron CEO Michael Wirth’s 2022 compensation was $24 million. He made an additional $23 million that year by selling his company stock. Additionally, Chevron's executives have access to eight different private jets for executive use, worth an estimated $257 million, enough to plug 15% of the company’s current orphan and idle wells.