Could Offshore Oil Rigs Provide a New Platform for Aquaculture in the United States?

The Gulf of Mexico is littered with hundreds of oil platforms that have gone quiet over the last decade. The federal government refers to these defunct derricks and retired rigs as “idle iron.”

But they’re not supposed to stay idle for long. Under United States law, oil rigs and all their associated infrastructure – above the surface and below – need to be dismantled and removed within one year of ceasing production. ?

Decommissioning an oil platform is a major undertaking, and many in the oil and gas industry view it as an expensive headache. In 2015 the Government Accountability Office estimated it will eventually cost $38 billion to remove the 1,800 or so platforms from the Gulf of Mexico.

Kent Satterlee, however, sees the abandoned rigs as an opportunity.

An engineer who spent 35 years with Shell Oil, Satterlee is executive director of the Gulf Offshore Research Institute, a group looking to repurpose two platforms in the Gulf of Mexico for aquaculture and other endeavors.

“We just want to make use of this infrastructure that’s already out there in every beneficial way we can think of,” Satterlee says.?

Last year Innovasea assisted GORI in examining whether Station Padre, a platform located 25 miles east of Padre Island, Texas, could be turned into a commercial fish farm.???

“The due diligence we did clearly shows that it’s a good location for offshore aquaculture,” Satterlee says.

Built by Shell in the 1980s, the platform is now owned by Peregrine Oil and Gas. Natural gas production there ended in 2015.

The rig sits in about 150 feet of water that offers excellent visibility. It’s a dynamic ocean environment that delivers a constant chop of about three feet – more than the typical open ocean aquaculture site – but experts say the location is conducive to farming fish. ?

“From an oceanographic standpoint, the site does pose some challenges,” says Innovasea biologist Tyler Sclodnick, who did an environmental analysis of the site for GORI that looked at currents and other conditions. “We captured data while Hurricane Hanna passed overhead last year and saw very strong forces there. Luckily, we know firsthand that submersible pens that can get below the rough surface are able to withstand that level of energy and we’re also learning more and more about the advantages of farming in high energy environments.”

New Life for Idle Iron

Repurposing old oil platforms is nothing new. The U.S. pioneered the practice of turning retired rigs into artificial reefs after Congress first authorized it with passage of the National Fishing Enhancement Act in 1984.

Rather than spending up to $10 million to remove the platforms and support structures, the rigs are stripped of any potential contaminants and then dismantled and carefully laid on the ocean floor. As of 2018, 532 former rigs had been turned into reefs in U.S. waters.

Even while in operation, however, the oil rig infrastructure offers a safe haven for marine animals, attracting a diverse collection of sea life around the “jackets” – the latticework of steel supports that are buried deep into the seabed. As a result, some environmentalists now think removing oil platforms and returning sites to their natural state – as per U.S. law – is actually a bad idea.

“By removing rigs, we risk losing rich biodiversity hotspots that have come to form an integral part of the wider ecosystem,” Anne-Mette Jorgensen, founder of North Sea Futures, told Yale Environment 360 in 2018.

Satterlee agrees. Last year he was part of a dive team that explored the waters beneath Station Padre. He was amazed by what he saw.??

“You can see the marine growth on the members, lots of coral, and then the fisheries habitat in and around there. They love this environment. As you go a little bit deeper, down around 90 feet, that’s where the red snapper like it. There are hundreds of red snapper down there. They just congregate. This is a natural habitat for them.”

The Vision

Satterlee has been in the oil and gas business a long time. During his time at Shell he helped design, install and even remove platforms. He believes they have incredible potential for re-use – and is quick to explain why Station Padre’s platform would be the ideal base for a commercial fish farm.

“At a minimum we would have living quarters on the platform,” he says. “We’d have office space, we’d have storage and it would be a hub for the aquaculture operation. Obviously the platform has a crane, and because of the closeness to the fish pens we could do feeding operations directly from the platform. We could have the feed silos on the platform and run a line over to the net pens.”

In addition, the underlying industry and infrastructure that exists in the Gulf to support offshore oil and gas production – vessels, facilities, heavy equipment, etc. – could be tapped to do the same for commercial aquaculture. Satterlee says one of the most attractive things about the Station Padre project is its proximity to Port Mansfield, Texas, just 35 miles to the southwest.

“It’s got a lot of things going for it, including the capability for a shore base, a fish hatchery and a processing plant.” Satterlee says of the recently dredged port and its surrounding area.

The Challenge

While the dream of turning abandoned oil platforms into fish farms is alluring, economics has a way of bringing things back to reality. One of the major hurdles is the financial commitment it would take to pull it off. Satterlee estimates it would cost $1-2 million a year just to keep Station Padre operational. Add in liability issues and potential responsibility for decommissioning the rig down the road and it could be difficult to attract investors.

Which is why Satterlee and his group envision aquaculture as just one facet of a mixed-use repurposing plan that could include renewable energy production (wind turbines and/or hydrogen production via electrolysis), oceanographic research and even eco-tourism.

“Aquaculture is just a small component of this kind of broader vision for reusing these platforms,” Satterlee says. “Clearly if you can use the platform for other purposes as well, it makes the economics better.”

That said, GORI’s research partner at Louisiana State University crunched the numbers at Station Padre and says an aquaculture-only operation could be successful there. Under one scenario, a fish farm that leased the platform and produced Cobia could pay off its capital costs and begin turning a profit in under four years.

What’s Next

With its feasibility report complete, GORI now needs to convince regulators that keeping Station Padre in place for other commercial activities is a sound idea. Its currently seeking re-use permits with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

If successful, it will then attempt to secure aquaculture permits from various state and federal agencies as part of the second phase of the project. Satterlee says Texas has been supportive of the proposal and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has provided positive feedback as well.

Phase II of the project would entail actually getting the fish farm up and running.

Satterlee is optimistic that day will come. And others believe a former Gulf of Mexico oil rig will one day be repurposed for aquaculture, whether at Station Padre or elsewhere.?

“A project with the right location, substantial capital investment, experienced personnel and a good cage system will profitably grow fish in the Gulf of Mexico,” predicts a 2017 report entitled “Offshore Platforms and Mariculture in the US.” ?

If correct, then the United States could become a pioneer in the re-use of offshore oil platforms – much like it has been in converting them into artificial reefs.?

This article originally appeared on the Innovasea Insights blog