Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

The new use for abandoned oil rigs

The new use for abandoned oil rigs

As offshore oil and gas platforms come to the end of their working lives, the remarkable ecosystems beneath the waves come into their own.

The grey steel girders of Platform Holly rise 235ft (72m) above the waters of the Pacific Ocean, just a couple of miles off the Santa Barbara coast. Above the water, this decommissioned oil rig is dull and lifeless, but the view below the surface is very different. Beneath the waves, colourful fish, crabs, starfish and mussels congregate on the huge steel pylons, which stretch for more than 400ft (120m) to the ocean floor.

There are more than 12,000 offshore oil and gas platforms worldwide. As they drain their reservoirs of fossil fuels below the sea, they eventually become defunct when they produce too little fuel for extraction to be profitable to their operators.

The big question is what to do with these enormous structures when the fossil fuels stop flowing. With curbing climate change rising up the international agenda, and with some questioning whether we have already passed peak oil, hastened by the coronavirus pandemic, the number of defunct rigs in the ocean is set to get bigger. Removing them from the water is incredibly expensive and labour-intensive. Allowing them to rust and fall into disrepair is an environmental risk that could seriously damage marine ecosystems.

"For some species, offshore rigs are even better nurseries than natural reefs. The towering pylons are the perfect spawning grounds for tiny fish larvae"


But there is one way in which these old rigs can be remarkably useful: the subsurface rig provides the ideal skeleton for coral reefs. Teeming with fish and other wildlife, scientists say that offshore rigs like Platform Holly are in fact the most bountiful human-made marine habitats in the world.


The subsea structures are a vertical spine that gradually turn into reefs over time


The practice of transforming rigs into reefs in the United States dates back almost 40 years. In 1984, the US Congress signed the National Fishing Enhancement Act which recognised the benefits artificial reefs provided and encouraged states to draw up plans to turn defunct rigs into reefs. The five coastal states on the Gulf of Mexico – Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas – all have rigs-to-reefs programmes and have converted more than 500 oil and gas platforms into artificial reefs.

When oil companies cease drilling in these states, they decommission their platform by sealing the oil well. Then they can either choose to remove the entire platform or convert it into a reef by removing just the upper section of the structure.

Reefing a platform is an attractive proposition for oil and gas companies as it is significantly less expensive than total removal and is estimated to save the industry millions of dollars each year. Campaigners say it is a win-win situation as companies spend half of their decommissioning savings on the state's artificial reef programme. This money goes towards maintaining the platforms, marine conservation and education. Due to the abundant marine species living there, the platforms in the Gulf of Mexico have become hotspots for diving, snorkelling and recreational fishing.

Marine scientists Emily Hazelwood and Amber Sparks are on a mission to replicate this conservation success in other parts of the world. They founded the California-based organisation Blue Latitudes in 2014 to raise awareness about the benefits of rigs and persuade oil companies and governments to designate them as permanent reefs.

"In 2019, gas made up 21% and oil 34% of the world’s CO2 emissions from fuel, with a significant proportion coming from offshore rigs like these"


"We're trying to help the general public understand that conservation isn't always just about saving the whales," says Sparks. "There are other ways we can look at complex ideas in our oceans, such as repurposing manmade structures like artificial reefs."

Hazelwood and Sparks have reefed rigs from Thailand to West Africa, preventing more than a dozen large marine ecosystems from being wiped out.


When offshore rigs become defunct, they can either be left in place and maintained for wildlife, or dismantled


Offshore rigs are among the most productive fish habitats in the world, according to marine biologist Milton Love who has spent 20 years studying fish populations around oil and gas platforms in California. They provide marine wildlife with food, shelter from predators and a safe breeding ground.

For some species, the rigs are even better nurseries than natural reefs, says Love. The towering pylons are the perfect spawning grounds for tiny fish larvae. "A lot of them are just drifting," says Love. "They want to settle." The 500ft (150m) high underwater structures provide an opportunity for just that.

One of the big beneficiaries is rockfish, stocks of which have been heavily depleted due to overfishing along the US West Coast. These fish are found in abundance around oil platforms. For instance, the platforms have helped revive the critically endangered bocaccio rockfish. "We've found a very high density of young bocaccio at platforms, around 400,000 at six platforms. We didn't see that at natural reefs," says Love, adding that the number of juvenile bocaccio found at rigs was enough to boost the adult stock of the Pacific Coast population by around 3%.

The abundant fish populations found at Californian platforms can partly be attributed to the fact that oil rigs serve as de facto marine protected areas, says Love. In California, fishing around oil and gas platforms is prohibited.


Displaced fish will often return to their home platforms, which provide a safe and versatile habitat


Chris Lowe, a marine biologist at California State University who has been tracking fish populations in southern California since 2008, says there is clear evidence that fish are drawn to the platforms.

For one study, Lowe attached sensors to fish living by three oil platforms, before moving them to a natural reef located up to 18km (11 miles) away and monitoring their movements over two years. A quarter of the fish, across all species, quickly returned to their home oil platform, while others would migrate back during non-breeding seasons. "They had a higher likelihood of going back to their original platform than somewhere else. They really like their home platform. This showed us a lot about how the fish treat the platform as a habitat," says Lowe.

"Californians are very opposed to offshore oil and gas and many of them want their coastline and view free of those structures – Kristen Hislop"


One reason for this affinity is that the rigs offer a property rarely found in featureless open water: their considerable height. The platform acts as a pinnacle and allows fish to move into deeper water as they mature, without having to leave their habitat, according to Lowe. Typically, fish living in shallow reefs will leave their habitat when they are fully grown and venture out to open sea. The fish found on oil rigs simply have to move down the platform, without ever venturing far from their refuge.

Many scientists are calling for Californian platforms to be preserved as artificial reefs, given the bountiful ecosystems they harbour. The state introduced a law in 2010 allowing for rigs to be converted in reefs, but to date no platforms have been reefed. That could change in the next decade; eight of the state's 27 rigs are no longer operating and several will be decommissioned in the next few years.

Blue Latitudes' Sparks says it is a challenge convincing Californians, "the greenest folks you'll meet", of the merits of keeping rigs in the ocean. California is the US state with the most ambitious climate goals. By 2030 the state aims to slash emissions by 40% compared with 1990 levels and has passed a law that all electricity must come from carbon-free sources by 2045.

"Californians are very opposed to offshore oil and gas and many of them want their coastline and view free of those structures," says Kristen Hislop, a marine conservationist at the Environmental Defense Center, an advocacy group based in the Santa Barbara region, where there are 20 platforms.


While marine life might benefit from the subsurface structures, there are concerns about the rigs-to-reefs programmes also supporting extractive industries


It's not hard to see why some are reluctant. The extraction and burning of fossil fuels including oil and gas are major drivers of climate change. Overall, in 2019, gas made up 21% and oil 34% of the world’s CO2 emissions from fuel, with a significant proportion coming from offshore rigs like these and thousands of others.

But the objections are not just symbolic. There are concerns that the cost savings offered to oil companies under the rigs-to-reefs programme could encourage them to expand, Hislop notes. She adds that research and discussions about what to do with the rigs once they have been decommissioned are ongoing.

But Blue Latitudes says the aim of rigs to reefs is not to reward polluters and boost the oil industry, but to protect valuable marine habitats by offering an alternative to complete platform removal.

If California's platforms are toppled, it would result in the loss of 27 huge marine ecosystems. Some of these rigs, such as the Harmony platform in the Santa Barbara Channel, reaches depths of 1198ft (365m), and is taller than the Empire State Building. "California platforms are some of the largest and deepest in the world," says Hazelwood. "You don't even see the beams, they are so encrusted with marine wildlife."

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
×