Rigs-to-Reefs - Overview

Overview

The United States began extracting oil offshore in the early 20th Century; yet the concern over abandoned oil rigs surfaced only in the 1980s. "Today over 4,500 offshore oil and gas platforms have been installed supplying 25% of the United States' production of natural gas and 10% of its oil." These platforms continue to function as long as the reservoirs underneath them provide oil at a profitable rate. At the end of their productive lives they must be decommissioned and removed within one year.

An alternative to removal is to turn the rig into a reef through the Rigs-to-Reef (RTR) program. All coastal states have such artificial reef programs in the interest of increasing ocean fisheries but not all participate in RTR. The rig's steel structures are stable and durable. They create shelter for marine life in open waters where there was none.