Decommissioning - Pacific

Financial Assurance

BOEM Pacific Region requires financial assurance to guarantee compliance with lease obligations as well as other laws and regulations associated with the decommissioning of offshore oil and gas facilities, including pipelines, in Federal waters.  For further information see:

Interagency Coordination

Several agencies with an interest in the decommissioning of offshore oil platforms formed an Interagency Decommissioning Working Group (IDWG) in 1997 to serve as a forum for discussion of offshore and onshore decommissioning issues for Federal, state and local agencies. 

Workshops

BOEM has held three public workshops (1994, 1997, 2003) addressing offshore oil and gas facility decommissioning. The focus of the 1994 and 1997 workshops was broad and included the regulatory framework for decommissioning, information available for analyzing decommissioning, technologies available for decommissioning structures in deep water, public concerns, and case histories of offshore facility decommissioning.

The 2003 workshop was planned in coordination with the IDWG.  This workshop focused on detailed discussion and analysis of the available environmental information related to decommissioning and the information that may be needed for the Pacific OCS Region environmental documentation for future decommissioning of facilities in deep water. The IDWG developed an action plan to address decommissioning issues.  For more information, see: For further information see:

Research