Oil Rigs to Reefs - An Ironic Dynamic

The first offshore drilling platform was installed off the coast of Louisiana in 1937. By 2001, there were 4,043 platforms in the northern Gulf.

Removal of nonproducing platforms began in 1973, and the rate of removal accelerated in 2010; about 3,000 were left by March 2013.

“Around these platforms are the most desirable fish in the Gulf,” says Larry McKinney, executive director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. He means red snapper, of course.People started fishing around platforms because that’s where the fish were and the structures were easy to find, especially in pre-GPS days.

Recreational fishing is an important part of the economy and lifestyle along the Texas coast; in 2011, saltwater anglers had a total economic output of $3.7 billion in Texas.

When oil and gas production began to move farther and farther offshore and to change from fixed to floating structures, artificial reefs were seen as a way to fill the void. Under the state’s rigs-to-reefs program, managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, owners of a platform scheduled for removal can instead donate it to the program, along with funds equal to half of what it would have cost to remove the structure ($1 million to $7 million or more). The owner caps the well under the structure according to federal regulations, the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Engineering approves the reefing plan, and the Corps of Engineers issues a permit. The structure can then be dropped on its side or taken in pieces to a designated reef site.

In all, 135 structures have been converted to reefs off the coast of Texas in water ranging from 60 to 305 feet deep, with most in the 150- to 280-foot range.

The location of reefs can be found on the TPWD website, www.tpwd.state.tx.us/artificialreefs.