FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TOKYO-BASED INVESTOR ADOPTS, FUNDS PLUGGING OF ORPHANED OIL WELL IN MONTANA
American Expat Fuyuki Fujiwara Hopes Other Investors Follow WDF’s “Clear Path” to Fighting Climate Change
Tokyo, Japan – Jan. 13, 2022 – The Well Done Foundation (“WDF”) today announced that Tokyo-based investor Fuyuki Fujiwara has adopted and funded the plugging of the 92-year-old Bluhm #8 oil well in Northern Montana’s Toole County, according to WDF chairman and CEO Curtis Shuck.
The Bluhm #8 oil well was spudded April 9, 1930, and drilled to a final depth of 1,606 feet by C.E. Shaffer of the Imperial Petroleum Corp. This well became an orphan in the early 1990s when the last operator, Cavalier Petroleum, filed for bankruptcy and the well formally became the responsibility of the State of Montana.
Up until its plugging late last year, Bluhm #8 was emitting nearly 8,000 tonnes of CO2e per year into the atmosphere.
Fujiwara, who’s a co-founder and partner in a pioneering Asian hedge fund, invested his own capital to plug Bluhm #8 and restore the surface area for the landowner to farm once again.
“Of all the ways we can fight climate change, it is so clear what an immediate impact plugging an orphaned oil well offers,” Fujiwara said. “And I hope to encourage more climate-minded investors to get involved in Well Done’s initiative.”
An American citizen, Fujiwara graduated from Yale University and moved to Japan near the start of his career. He has lived there with his family since then.
“Fuyuki is one of our more unique investor-partners in that he resides outside of North America,” Shuck said. “But climate change is a global issue, and his involvement heightens the profile of this very important project.”
About the Well Done Foundation
Formed in 2019, the Well Done Foundation enables the oil and gas industry to partner with the conservation community to create an alternative pathway to success that benefits all. The Well Done Process, which does not include any public funding, creates a strategic partnership among regulators, surface owners and adoptive parties, leading to a safe and seamless system that provides cost-effective and lasting results that improve the environment while working with the industry in a transparent structure that delivers value to its Triple Bottom Line: community partnerships (people), environmental responsibility (planet), and economic benefits (profit). Montana’s Golden Triangle Region is home to some of the richest soil and most productive growing acres in the United States. The Well Done Foundation works with its partners to transition the orphaned well sites into their next levels of service. For more information, visit https://welldonefoundation.com/.
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