Offshore installations, decommissioning and artificial reefs: Do current legal frameworks best serve the marine environment?

Abstract

The offshore oil and gas industry is facing the prospect of de-commissioning thousands of installations in the coming decades. In some parts of the world the issue is already pressing. The financial cost of complete removal is significant, and therefore the prospect of leaving part of the installation in situ is attractive. The way forward, though, is not clear. Despite the success of rigs-to-reef projects in the US it is unclear whether such initiatives are transferable to other contexts given very different physical and jurisdictional contexts. This paper explores current legal frameworks including international law and the state of play in Australia compared with that in the US and UK. Tentative recommendations are made for future developments in this area.