,,, the small operators will just leave — and leave all their stuff behind at wellsites.
After completion, pretty much all that’s left is the wellhead and Christmas Tree. And even those get reclaimed if the well is shut down. They’re too expensive to just leave there.
What is all the stuff that you think they will leave?
The onsite tanks for oil and production water. The pipes to them. We’re talking about completion, not plug and abandon.
Toss in some alcohol from a business failure and the spigots may just be opened to the world and left to flow a few hundred bpd onto the ground, both production water and oil.
That would be a cleanup effort for NoDak.