Evaluating alternatives for decommissioning California's offshore oil and gas platforms

Abstract This paper introduces a series of 6 additional papers in this issue that describe an in-depth analysis of options for decommissioning oil and gas platforms offshore southern California. Although current leases require lessees in both state and federal waters to completely remove all production facilities and restore the seafloor to its pre-platform condition, other options have emerged since these leases were signed. Laws and regulations in other jurisdictions (particularly in federal waters) have evolved to allow a number of other uses such as aquaculture, alternative energy production, and artificial reefing. In response, the California Natural Resources Agency initiated an effort to investigate the issues associated with these and other decommissioning alternatives. The papers in this series are the result of the second phase in this process, a broad investigation of the engineering, economic, and environmental costs and benefits of the most feasible and likely options. In addition to the project's final report, the authors produced an interactive mathematical decision model, PLATFORM, that enables users to explore the implications of different decommissioning projects and options, as well as the effects of different approaches to valuing the associated costs and benefits. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2015;X:000–000. © 2015 SETAC Key Points This article introduces the papers in this series analyzing options for decommissioning the 27 oil and gas platforms off the coast of Southern California, in both state and federal waters. Current leases require lessees in both state and federal water to completely decommission all platform facilities and restore the seafloor to preproduction conditions. Since platform leases were signed, additional decommissioning options have become available including artificial reefs, aquaculture, and alternative reefing, resulting in subsequent changes in laws and regulations.