Plants & Goodwin (P&G), a subsidiary of US-based private methane offsets originator Zefiro Methane, has secured a new orphan well-plugging project, Morrow 8, in Morrow County, Ohio, US.

This initiative, funded by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), involves the plugging of four orphan wells in Morrow County and the excavation and capping of two additional wells in Gilead and Perry townships.

The project was awarded to P&G following a competitive bidding process, with a winning bid of $522,233.

In 2023, Zefiro Methane purchased a majority ownership stake in P&G, followed by 100% acquisition in September 2024.

As of the end of June 2025, P&G expanded its Ohio operations with the Belmont 6 ODNR orphan well project in Belmont County.

This follows a substantial $19.6m contract awarded earlier in the year for plugging and abandonment management.

P&G CEO Luke Plants said: “Zefiro continues to build on its strong historical success in Ohio, which is a key market in the environmental remediation services space given the number of wells that have been drilled across the state over the past several generations.

“The Columbus, Ohio, metro area has more than 2.1 million residents (per the 2020 US Census ), and the proximity of Morrow County to this population hub truly underscores how close the unplugged well crisis is to the communities in which so many Americans and their families live.

“We are pleased to have this opportunity to make a difference by way of taking on the Morrow 8 project, and we look forward to continuing to play an active role in cleaning up precious land, water and air resources one well at a time.”

According to ODNR Director Mary Mertz, Ohio has increased its efforts to plug orphan wells, with 353 and 478 wells remediated in fiscal years 2024 and 2025 (FY24 and FY25), respectively.

This marks a contrast to the 15 wells addressed in FY17. P&G has already remediated 28 wells in 2025 under Ohio's state-funded programme and currently has contracts for an additional 23 wells.

Zefiro’s interim CEO, Catherine Flax, highlighted the significance of environmental remediation services in Zefiro's shareholder communication, emphasising their role in driving shareholder value and complementing other business ventures such as the sale of emission offset credits to companies Mercuria and EDF Trading.