Before the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining approves a permit to drill, re-enter, or take over a well on fee or privately owned minerals, the operator furnishes a bond sized by depth — $1,500 under 1,000 feet, $15,000 to 3,000 feet, $30,000 to 10,000 feet, $60,000 beyond — under Utah Admin. Code R649-3-1. Pricing is 5% of the bond amount plus a $25 fee, $125 minimum, and the bond issues the moment you pay. The application includes a credit consent, but it authorizes a soft credit pull only — a soft inquiry that never affects your score.
















One well, one bond, one sitting. Have the well name, API number and legal description handy — the application asks for all of them:
Well name, API number, section, township, range and county, plus operator details, the bond amount for your depth band, a term, an effective date, and the mailing address for the wet-ink original. The credit consent authorizes a soft inquiry only.
The premium is 5% of the bond amount plus a $25 fee with a $125 minimum, priced at checkout, so the bond issues the moment you pay. Your executed bond and power of attorney generate on the spot.
The division takes the bond on Form 4 for fee and private-mineral wells, and it needs to be in hand before your permit to drill or change of operator is approved. The original goes to the address you give us.
The obligation is plugging and reclamation. Utah Code 40-6-5(2)(f) directs the Board of Oil, Gas and Mining to require a reasonable performance bond conditioned on the duty to plug each dry or abandoned well, repair each well causing waste or pollution, maintain and restore the well site, and protect the surface owner against unreasonable crop loss, loss of value in existing improvements, and permanent damage to surface land. R649-3-1 makes that bond a precondition of the permit itself, not a follow-up filing.
Amounts are keyed to depth because deeper holes cost more to kill: at least $1,500 for a well of less than 1,000 feet, $15,000 from 1,000 to 3,000 feet, $30,000 from 3,000 to 10,000 feet, and $60,000 beyond 10,000 feet, for each such well on fee or privately owned minerals. If the division reviews your application to drill, re-enter, or change operator and concludes the standard amount will not cover plugging and site restoration, it may require a change in the form or amount — with written findings and a schedule, appealable under R649-10.
Bond liability runs for the duration of drilling, operating and plugging the well and restoring the site, and stays in full force until the division releases it. Release follows a defined sequence: notice that the well has been plugged, landowner affidavits confirming restoration, published newspaper notice, and a 15-day window for written objections. Separately, a well found in violation of the shut-in and temporarily abandoned rule can be re-bonded at actual plugging and site restoration cost — the operator submits an estimate within 30 days and posts within 120 days of approval.
These are the actual issuing fields — including the well name, API number and legal description the division needs on Form 4. The credit consent authorizes a soft inquiry only.
Start the application →Enter your depth-band amount, see the exact price, and get the original to the division. Free until issued.