Interior inks cleanup deal for orphaned offshore pipelines

By Heather Richards | 10/04/2024 06:30 AM EDT

The project off the Texas coast is partially funded by the infrastructure law of 2021.

 An oil rig in 2010 near the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico.

An oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Chris Graythen/AFP via Getty Images

The Interior Department is launching the cleanup of eight orphaned oil and gas pipelines about 12 miles off Texas’ Matagorda Island.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) announced Thursday the signing of a five-year contract with Chet Morrison Contractors for work funded in part by by a $4.7 billion program for orphaned-well cleanups created by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

Kathryn Kovacs, Interior’s deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, issued a statement calling the law “crucial” to removing orphaned infrastructure on the outer continental shelf.

Advertisement

There are 106 orphaned wells in the Gulf of Mexico’s federal wates, according to BSEE. Roughly 3,000 additional wells have been temporarily abandoned in the the Gulf that will eventually need to be permanently shut down, according to the agency records.

GET FULL ACCESS