Genesis in action: Oil platform comes back to life as artificial reef

A new lease on life has been bestowed upon an offshore platform that brought over 120 million barrels of oil to the energy market during its lifetime. This decommissioned oil platform shed its previous skin to transform into an underwater artificial reef, enabling it to live on as a thriving habitat for marine life in the Gulf of America, formerly the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GoM).

The tale of Genesis, Chevron’s first deepwater platform, dates back to its construction in the late 1990s, when it became the first 705-ft, 28,700-ton floating steel spar to house drilling and production facilities.

After coming online in 1999, the oil platform operated half a mile underwater, servicing 20 wellheads arranged on the seafloor. The U.S. energy player decided to retire the giant offshore structure from active service duty in 2019, about 20 years after it produced its first oil.

Decommissioning Genesis required the expertise of a vast number of people and years of effort before the wells were turned off. Chevron has now turned its former platform into an artificial reef for marine life as part of the Louisiana Rigs to Reefs program.

Erin Englert, Chevron’s Regulatory Affairs Advisor, who facilitates programs that transform decommissioned oil and gas platforms into marine life habitats, said: “I’ve seen videos and pictures of the results, and it’s just beautiful. I would love to go down there and visit one.”

Last year, the Genesis’ spar was submerged deep off Louisiana’s coast, just as other decommissioned structures had been before it, since it is not unusual for offshore energy industry components to be repurposed.

This recent project involved turning the spar, or hull, of the former Genesis platform into a gathering spot for creatures like coral, tropical fish, and anemones. As it is believed that marine life is attracted to offshore platforms, U.S. and Louisiana state officials want the structures to continue to provide ecological benefits when decommissioned.

“Fish are reliant upon them as a habitat, It’s rewarding to see them thrive,” emphasized Mike McDonough, Artificial Reef Program Coordinator with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

A new life was also breathed into a decommissioned oil field infrastructure offshore Malaysia with a rig-to-reef project, as confirmed by Hibiscus Petroleum, a Malaysian independent oil and gas exploration and production company.

Transforming these huge structures within the offshore energy landscape at the end of their service life into something innovative yet sustainable has become a popular endeavor over the years.

In line with this, Saudi Arabia is paying homage to its oil and gas heritage by pursuing the development of an offshore oil platform-style ‘extreme’ adventure hub as a tourism project in the Arabian Gulf.