Use Old Oil Rigs to Slash Carbon Emissions, Scientist Say

A new study has found that already-existing North Sea oil and gas rigs could be reused as carbon dioxide storage sites with a few minor tweaks – costing ten times less than dismantling the structures while combatting climate change.

“Removing platforms at large expense is short-sighted. Re-using them to dispose of CO₂ in rocks several kilometres beneath the seabed will not only be cheaper, but provides a cost-effective means of cutting the UK’s CO₂ emissions to meet the 2050 net-zero target,” says Jonathan Scafidi from the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences.

Researchers from the University’s GeoEnergy MSc program analyzed data from the Beatrice Oil Field in Scotland, and used a computer model to discover that they could save hundreds of thousands of dollars in a 30-year period by reusing the structures, rather than decommissioning the oilfield.