Whether it’s an operating oil and gas (petroleum) production platform or a retired platform intentionally placed for conservation and fisheries enhancement, a typical 4-pile platform jacket (the underwater support structure of an offshore platform) provides 2-3 acres of living and feeding habitat for thousands of underwater species.

That’s a good thing, because the natural bottom of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is a flat plain, comprised of mud, clay and sand with very little natural rock bottom and reef habitat. Without the platform and other artificial reefs, fish and other marine life typically would become widely dispersed, far from ideal conditions for commercial fishing and recreational fishing and diving.

As observed and documented by the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) diving scientists, invertebrates and plants attach to petroleum platforms within weeks of their placement in the marine environment. Within a year, the platform can be completely covered with plants and sessile invertebrates, attracting mobile invertebrates and fish species, and forming a highly complex food chain.

As observed and documented by the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) diving scientists, invertebrates and plants attach to petroleum platforms within weeks of their placement in the marine environment. Within a year, the platform can be completely covered with plants and sessile invertebrates, attracting mobile invertebrates and fish species, and forming a highly complex food chain.

Petroleum platforms function as entirely new places to live; niches for countless animals. In addition to harboring numerous species of juvenile fish and adult life stages, these platforms serve as hunting grounds for swift open-ocean pelagic fishes, such as mackerel, tuna, and jacks. These fish species use the steel platform reefs as places to grab a quick meal, but also for orientation in an otherwise featureless environment, and as areas to rest where the platform structure weakens or deflects currents, and as places to hide from species that may prey on them. Marine researchers have reported fish densities to be 20 to 50 times higher at oil and gas platforms than in nearby open water, and each platform seasonally serves as critical habitat for 10 to 20 thousand fishes, many of which are of recreational and commercial importance.

Retired petroleum platforms are required by the MMS lease agreement to be removed from the marine environment and taken to shore for disposal within one year from termination of the oil and gas lease. An alternative to onshore disposal is the conversion of retired platforms to permitted and permanently submerged platform artificial reefs, i.e. Rigs-to-Reefs (RTR).

In 1980, the MMS initiated an effort to develop a database that would increase understanding of the scope and magnitude of recreational use of oil and gas platforms, and provide a foundation for future decisions by government and industry concerning the role of platforms in fisheries conservation and development. The MMS also negotiated an interagency agreement with the National Marine Fisheries Service to carry out studies with the active participation of the petroleum industry and Texas A&M University. This cooperative initiative had five objectives: (1) to develop a national policy that recognizes the artificial reef benefits of oil and gas platforms, (2) to prepare an RTR program plan for the GOM, (3) to establish a standard procedure to ensure and facilitate timely conversion of obsolete platforms as reefs, (4) to identify research and studies necessary to optimize the use of platforms as reefs, and (5) to identify legal restrictions that may prevent use of obsolete platforms as reefs. In addition to this cooperative effort, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior joined with the president of the National Ocean Industries Association to form a special task force called REEFS (Recreational and Environmental Enhancement for Fishing in the Sea). The task force was composed of fishery representatives from coastal states and private and public officials. The goal of the task force was to develop a strategy that would lead to the creation of a national RTR policy, plan, and program in the United States. This goal was realized when the National Fishing Enhancement Act (NFEA) of 1984 was signed into law (Public Law 98-623, Title II).

 

The NFEA called for the creation of a National Artificial Reef Plan. The Plan was created in 1985, and in 1986 and 1989 respectively, the States of Louisiana and Texas enacted legislation authorizing their state-directed RTR program plan.

Recognizing the benefits oil and gas platforms contribute to the enhancement of marine fisheries habitat, the MMS announced in 1983, and again in 1993 in testimony before the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee and Subcommittee on Fisheries Management of the U.S. House of Representatives, its support for the conversion of selected retired and obsolete platforms for permanent use as artificial reefs on the Outer Continental Shelf. In 1998, the MMS policy on RTR was rewritten and reads as follows:

The MMS supports and encourages the reuse of obsolete offshore petroleum structures as artificial reefs in U.S. waters. The structure must not pose an unreasonable impediment to future mineral development. The reuse RTR plan must comply with the artificial reef permitting requirements of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the criteria in the National Artificial Reef Plan. The State agency responsible for managing marine fisheries resources must accept liability for the structure before the MMS will release the Federal lessee from obligations in the lease instrument.

Three methods for removing and reefing a platform are used in the RTR process.

1. Platform Tow and Place

2. Platform Topple in Place

3.   Platform Partial Removal

Recognizing the preservation of environmental values associated with the partial method of platform removal, the MMS adopted the policy that allows the industry the option for the retention of the well conductors at the same depth at which the operator proposed to remove the platform jacket, thus eliminating the need for explosives in the platform removal process and minimizing the impacts on the platform’s fish and reef communities.

At the end of 1998, 1,715 platforms were retired from oil and gas production, 1,587 platforms were removed and disposed of onshore, and 3,930 platforms remain in the GOM. Alternatively, 128 of the retired platform were donated and permanently dedicated as RTR for fisheries enhancement.

In addition to the donation of the platform jacket, a monetary value equal to half the savings realized by the oil and gas industry (donor) for not having to remove the platform to shore per MMS lease agreement, is donated to the State (recipient) for the State’s artificial reef-related program cost.

Recreational charter boat captains, fishermen, and divers from across the Gulf have all firmly established oil and gas platforms and RTR as the most popular offshore fishing and diving destinations in the GOM.

The use of retired and obsolete oil and gas platforms for reefs has proved to be highly successful. State governments, the oil and gas industry, and the commercial and recreational fishermen, have all been beneficiaries of RTR. Their large numbers, availability, stability, and durability has made offshore oil and gas platforms and RTR the largest artificial reef complex in the world.