MMS outlines its Idle Iron program

It’s hurricane season again. The US Minerals Management Service is completing its review of all hurricane-damaged offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico region. A recent tally showed Hurricanes Gustav and Ike destroyed 60 platforms.

In preparation for future tropical storms and hurricanes, MMS is monitoring platforms and offshore structures that have a surface location on expired or terminated leases.

Lars Herbst, MMS regional director of the Gulf of Mexico region, spoke about the MMS Idle Iron program while addressing the Offshore Operators Committee on June 3.

Herbst said MMS enforces regulations calling for the plugging and abandonment of inactive wells and wells considered no longer useful for lease operations. MMS reports 515 such wells.

MMS is meeting with operators to discuss their schedules to complete well abandonment work.

“A schedule needs to be in place and followed,” Herbst said in his presentation. “The delay for platform removal will not be allowed to extend indefinitely.”