Abandoning pipelines working group regulatory issues
The history of hydrocarbon development in Louisiana and off its coast is one of the interdependence of technological innovation, entrepreneurial risk-taking, resource management, judicial decisions, legislation, marketing, employee good will, infrastructure and support services, coupled with favorable geologic structures that made early exploration and development relatively easy. Mariners sailing off the coast of Louisiana and Texas in the 1600`s recorded one of the earliest known natural oil seeps. They shrugged it off as unimportant, as there was no market for the substance they witnessed. The seepage, however, provided a tiny clue to the vast storehouse of hydrocarbons trapped in the earth`s crust extending from the uplands, through Louisiana`s swamps and marshes, and into the subaqueous habitats of the Gulf of Mexico-the world`s ninth largest body of water. In all cases, each move into a new geographic province required considerable change in operation philosophy and in the science supporting the exploration and development activity. As technology changed, or was developed to meet the industry`s needs, new frontiers were explored. However, with time-as is the case with any nonrenewable resource-fields and wells lost their productive life. They had to be abandoned. In fact, the Minerals Management Service suggests that within the next 10 years the offshore industry will remove 150 platforms per year, or nearly half of the current number of production units. The industry will be asked to dispose of nearly one unit every 2.4 days. If this is the case, abandonment issues are going to continue to surface.
- Research Organization:
- Minerals Management Service, New Orleans, LA (United States). Gulf of Mexico OCS Region; Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States). Center for Energy Studies
- OSTI ID:
- 478103
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960496-; ON: DE97005988; TRN: 97:003020-0004
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International workshop on offshore lease abandonment and platform disposal: technology, regulation, and environmental effects, New Orleans, LA (United States), 15-17 Apr 1996; Other Information: PBD: Mar 1997; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings: An international workshop on offshore lease abandonment and platform disposal: Technology, regulation, and environmental effects; Pulsipher, A. [ed.] [Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States). Center for Energy Studies]; PB: 315 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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