Why is a well P&A'd (plugged and abandoned)

Can anyone please tell us what it means when a well is slated to be drilled, the spud has been done, then the well is said to have mechanically failed and been P&A’D.

Thank you so much.

P&A stands for plugged and abandoned. They had something go wrong during drilling and abandoned the well.

To us that know nothing about drilling, that seems silly. I can understand things going wrong, but it would seem obvious that one would just move over a foot or so and get back in business. Why does that not happen?

Thank you Wade!

Have a great day!

Depending upon what caused the failure and how much it would cost to fix it, sometimes the proposed economics of the well payout versus cost won’t allow a new drilling. At times, they will come back later, but they operate at a bigger scale and have to factor in all the other things they have going on such as rig usage, crew availability, finances, etc. They may move on to another well instead.

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