Rigs-to-Reef Initiative

This online engineering PDH course presents the Rigs-to-Reef (RTR) initiative adopted by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) to facilitate oil and gas platform abandonment and removal efforts between coastal states and oil and gas companies. It describes productive offshore disposal alternatives and options which can lead to reduction of abandonment costs and preservation of environmental values, thereby generating more incentives to convert platforms to reefs.

Over the past years oil and gas companies have donated numerous platforms for construction of reefs in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Through partial platform removals and the elimination of explosives in the RTR conversion process, companies can now conserve reefs with higher profiles and less trauma to platform-associated reef organisms. In addition to producing 98 percent of the gas and 91 percent of the oil on our Nation's Federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), GOM platforms provide the largest artificial reef complex in the world.

This 1 PDH online course is applicable to environmental, geotechnical and petroleum engineers, design and construction personnel, technical staff and facility operators who are interested in gaining a better understanding of the RTR initiative.