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 Content:

   
Michael Else

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    OEMM Web Team


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  Decommissioning Activities

Photo of sea life habitat beneath platform structure.
 
Sea life habitat beneath platform structure

The MMS identifies decommissioning as the process of ending oil, gas, or sulphur operations and returning the lease or pipeline right-of-way to a condition specified by regulatory requirements. The MMS works to ensure that obsolete structures and components are cleared from the site to prevent use conflicts. To avoid release of hydrocarbons to the environment, wells are plugged and cut below the mudline and pipelines removed or internally cleaned and prepared for abandonment in place.

Approximately 3,700 active platforms exist in the OCS. With more than 40% of these facilities over 25 years old and in sight of their designed service life, industry has averaged more than 130 platforms removals per year over the past decade, exceeding the number of new installations. In most cases the topsides that contain the operational components are taken to shore for recycling or re-use. The substructure is generally severed below the mudline, removed, cleaned, and brought to shore to sell as scrap for recycling or refurbished for installation at another location. A small number of platforms meeting stringent requirements may be towed for use at an approved artificial reef site using the criteria in the National Artificial Reef Plan as permitted by U.S. Federal agencies. State government agencies responsible for managing marine fisheries resources administer the program.

Photo of Lift of platform jacket during  decommissioning operations.
Lift of platform jacket during decommissioning operations

The MMS supports and encourages the reuse of obsolete offshore petroleum structures as artificial reefs in US waters as long as the structure does not pose an unreasonable impediment to future mineral development and other OCS use. Reuse must comply with the artificial reef permitting requirements of the 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 MMS will release the Federal lessee from lease obligations. Challenges lie ahead for platform removal from the OCS, particularly for large platforms (> 10,000 tons) in deeper waters. MMS continues to support research to meet these and other challenges.

Decommissioning Projects

025

Overpressures Developed by Shaped Explosive Charges Used to Remove Wellheads

044

Environmental Effects of Wellhead Removal by Explosives

112

Project Cancelled

118

Blast Effects Upon the Environment from the Removal of Platform Legs by Explosives

232

Investigation of New Techniques for Abandonment of Offshore Structures

234

Lease Abandonment: Technology, Environmental Effects and Regulation (Lease Abandonment Workshop)

267

Development, Testing and Evaluation of an Explosive Shock Wave Focusing Tool with Minimum Explosive Weight

270

Decommissioning of Oil and Gas Facilities Offshore California Workshop

329

Risk Assessment of Temporarily Abandoned or Shut-in Wells

337

Project Cancelled

352

Assessment of Current Pipeline Flushing and Decommissioning Requirements - Research and Field Testing

355

Using Satellite Radar Imagery to Detect Leaking Abandoned Wells on the U.S. OCS

372

State of the Art of Removing Large Platforms Located in Deep Water

429

Oil Platform Removal Using Engineered Charges: In Situ Comparison of Engineered and Bulk Explosive Charges

459

Comparative Risk Assessment of the Decommissioning Options for Large Platforms in the POCSR

480

An Assessment of Safety, Risks and Costs Associated with Subsea Pipeline Removals

537

A Study of Underwater Gaseous Explosions

570

Measurement of the Effect of Depth Below Mudline of Charge Placement During EROs

600

A Review and Update of Supplemental Bonding Requirements in the Gulf of Mexico

639

Decommissioning: Fixed and Floating Platform Removal and Disposition

646 Engineering Cost Assessment for Decommissioning POCS Facilities

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Last Updated: 06/19/2009, 07:05 PM