Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

There are approximately 12,000 O&G platforms worldwide. Overtime, many of these structures have developed into thriving reef ecosystems. However, the decommissioning of O&G platforms is imminent with significant impacts to the environment and predicted GHG emissions ranging from 5000 - 52,000 MT per platform. Yet, completely removing an O&G platform is not the only option, as structures have been successfully repurposed as reefs worldwide, retaining the marine communities that established on the platform during its lifetime and reducing GHG emissions by between 40-50%.

FishLAT was developed in 2021 with research and development funds from the National Science Foundation as a spatial modeling tool that helps users better understand and manage the environmental risks associated with decommissioning. FishLAT integrates and models environmental factors, including GHG emissions, to identify the best decommissioning option, either platform reefing or removal, to minimize these risks.

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How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

Reduces GHGs (e.g., projects that reduce sources of GHGs, such as through efficiency or other changes in consumption)

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Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

FishLAT empowers those traditionally underrepresented in the climate movement by assessing the environmental impacts of decommissioning and by making these data available to the following groups, who are often overlooked during the offshore industry planning process:

1) Chumash People - California‚ central coast is culturally significant to the Chumash people, who have been historically excluded from decisions surrounding O&G development on their lands. The Chumash people have recently proposed a Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary that would ban offshore O&G gas extraction. A primary goal of this proposal is to help buffer the worsening impacts of climate change caused by GHG emissions on California‚ coastal waters. By planning for more effective decommissioning using FishLAT, GHG emissions associated with decommissioning would be significantly reduced in line with the goals of the sanctuary. 

2) Fisheries and California‚ coastal communities - California‚ coastal communities rely on the fisheries resources provided by O&G platforms, yet their interests are typically not prioritized in the decommissioning process. Equitable access to ocean data, specifically fisheries data, is limited by confidentiality. By modeling fisheries data in a meaningful way to illuminate the relationship between fisheries and the offshore energy industry, FishLAT empowers fishing and coastal communities to protect their fisheries resources for generations to come.

3) Women - FishLAT IP is owned by the women-led team at BL, a unique qualification as the offshore energy industry and technology industry is often male-dominated.

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Mission Statement:

Blue Latitudes LLC (BL) is a U.S. federally certified women-owned marine environmental consulting firm providing innovative solutions for ecological challenges associated with the offshore energy industry. For nearly a decade, the BL team has worked domestically and internationally to decommission and re-purpose offshore oil and gas (O&G) platforms into permanent and productive artificial reefs. Recently, BLs‚ work has led to the development of FishLAT, a web-based spatial modeling tool that helps users more effectively plan for decommissioning, with special considerations for impacts to environmental resources and reduction of GHG emissions. FishLAT is currently a prototype in the Gulf of Mexico, with relevant applications for expansion in California and ultimately internationally. California is the next region targeted for funding because the majority of their O&G platforms are nearing decommissioning, and a tool like FishLAT is needed to support the major planning decisions happening now.