Before you drill or acquire an oil or gas well in Kentucky, the Division of Oil and Gas requires a plugging bond. A blanket bond covers all your wells under a single instrument instead of one per well. Premiums are 5% of the bond amount plus a $25 fee, $125 minimum, confirmed with a soft credit check — enter the amount the Division set, and your exact price appears at application.
















Your permit is waiting on this bond. Here's the entire process — no broker phone tag:
Business details, your years in business, the blanket bond amount, and an effective date — plus a one-time consent to a soft credit check.
Most of these clear quickly; if underwriting needs anything, you hear from an underwriter within 48 hours. The credit check is a soft pull that never affects your score — never a hard inquiry.
Pay online and receive the executed blanket bond ready to file with the Division. Wet-ink originals mailed whenever the state insists.
Kentucky's Division of Oil and Gas (in the Department for Natural Resources, Energy and Environment Cabinet) requires a performance bond on file before an oil or gas well is drilled or acquired from another operator. The bond guarantees the proper plugging and abandonment of wells and the filing of well records with the Division.
A blanket bond covers all of an operator's wells under a single instrument, rather than posting a separate bond for each well — the practical choice once you operate more than a handful. The bond stays in effect until each well is properly plugged (and any reclamation plan satisfied) or successfully transferred to another operator.
It is not insurance for you — if the surety pays a claim, you repay the surety. Forfeited bond funds go to the state's oil and gas well plugging fund, which the Division uses to plug abandoned wells. Enter the amount the Division set; premiums start at $100 and pricing runs through a single soft credit check that never affects your score.
These are the actual underwriting fields, including a one-time consent to a soft credit check. Submit once and your blanket bond is typically issued within 1–2 business days.
Start the application →From $100, short application, e-signed bond in 1–2 business days. Free until issued.