No One Paying Attention to 27,000 Abandoned Oil Rigs in the Gulf

A July AP investigation revealed that there are over 27,000 abandoned oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, and that no one is monitoring them. One of these wells was abandoned in 1940, before many of the current regulations were put in place. The report goes on the show that even the current regulations are often ignored.

Of these rigs, 23,500 are permanently abandoned, and 3,500 are only “temporarily abandoned.” Companies that plan to leave a well temporarily abandoned have a year to submit plans for permanent sealing. It came as no surprise to POGO, after our decade-long struggle with the Minerals Management Service (MMS), that the AP report found that this “rule is routinely circumvented, and that more than 1,000 wells have lingered in that unfinished condition for more than a decade. About three-quarters of temporarily abandoned wells have been left in that status for more than a year.”

Even the permanently plugged wells pose a threat of leaking. Petroleum engineers told AP that the plugs erode over time and that sometimes depressurized wells can re-pressurize and burst through their caps. In addition to the possibility of leaking quietly underwater, these time bombs pose the danger of exploding. With no one keeping tabs on the well sites, the response to an accident (tug boat collision, geological shift, etc.) could take much longer than with an active well head.

Despite evidence that these abandoned and temporarily abandoned wells are at risk of leaking at any time (as geological conditions shift and cement deteriorates) the plugged wells in federal waters are also often ignored. States, especially California and Texas, have had to reseal a number of wells for environmental and safety purposes. The same wells in federal water would have been left unseen, their cracks and leaks hidden deep under water and paperwork.

Last month, Representative Raul Grijalva (R-AZ) and Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) sent letters to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar asking that these regulations be enforced. Now that the federal government appears to be back regulating the offshore oil industry, POGO hopes that Salazar and Michael Bromwich, the Director of the the Bureau of Ocean Energy, Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE), will not only enforce their regulations but strengthen them, and soon. We can’t afford any more mistakes down there.

-- Alex Bland

Comments

[Dan]

I have been looking into these platforms for some time. In international waters one could concievably claim an abaondoned oil platform and live there. Our survival group is looking into one as a base. Right now we are planning on boats, but a semi permanent base is always a good idea. I have seen posts by people that have worked on the platforms and others who think that they know what they are talking about. They try to say that it would be impossible, but they do not have our determination. Check out the website at www.2012survivalassociation.net

[mea]

i want one! wonder if i can just find an abandoned one and set up shop?

[madhatter]

There is also a huge abandonment problem onshore, including on land managed by Interior's Bureau of Land Management.

[Mark Smith]

Does this really surprise anyone?
This government has become a self sustaining organism, no one is at the controls.
Every attempt to render assistance that the gov.has made in the last 12 years has been nothing but a failure or harmful to its citizens.
They could not get water to New Orleans when needed , do we actually think they can handle a major disaster like the Gulf Oil Spill? They are just as guilty as BP, in their negligence.
Only till after the oil has killed all sorts of wildlife and ruined the La. economy , did anyone notice that BP had copy/pasted its leak/disaster plan from a preexisting plan from Alaska.
I've been to La. quite a few times and have never seen a polar bear there.