TOPPLED PLATFORM TO BECOME ARTIFICIAL REEF IN GULF OF MEXICO

Challenger Minerals Inc. toppled its High Island A-567 platform jacket for the Texas Artificial Reef Program in August 1993, an economical alternative to transporting the jacket to shore to sell for scrap. According to Challenger Minerals, a subsidiary of Global Marine Inc., turning the platform jacket into a reef was economically attractive and environmentally responsible. (A large variety of marine life already flourished around the platform.) The toppling operation cost about $2 million.

Feb. 28, 1994

2 min read

According to Challenger Minerals, a subsidiary of Global Marine Inc., turning the platform jacket into a reef was economically attractive and environmentally responsible. (A large variety of marine life already flourished around the platform.) The toppling operation cost about $2 million.

Federal law requires oil and gas operators to remove production platforms within 1 year after production ceases. For some operators, the rigs-to-reefs program is more economical than scrapping a platform.

Since the program's inception in 1989, 11 permanent artificial reefs have been created with 15 rigs and platforms off the Texas gulf coast. The program is funded in part by the oil companies that donate platforms. These companies contribute to the reef fund approximately 50% of the savings realized by not dismantling the platform and jacket and towing them to shore for scrap metal.

TOPPLING

The entire toppling process took about 5 days:

All equipment in the operation was first shut down.
For 48 hr prior to the operation, the National Marine Fishery Service searched the sea nearby for any turtles and dolphins that might be injured during the toppling. A helicopter was used to search the water around the platform 24 hr before the toppling.
Workers lowered explosives down the well conductors to sever them 15 ft below the mud line.
A barge crane lifted the production equipment, generator, and living quarters onto the barge.
Workers used torches to sever the jacket's legs below the platform deck. The crane removed the deck and placed it on the barge.
Workers then lowered explosives down the jacket legs to sever them 15 ft below the mud Line.
The jacket was tethered and pulled over by a barge. A buoy will remark over the reef for 1 year until the location is marked on nautical charts.

The 3,115-ton jacket sat in 288 ft of water about 100 miles southeast of Galveston, Tex. The jacket was 308 ft tall, 126 ft wide at the top, and 207 ft wide at the bottom. The High Island A-567 platform produced 31.5 bcf of gas for 7 years before the reservoir was depleted in the summer of 1992.