Chevron to Postpone Removal of Platforms
Failing to obtain a necessary permit, Chevron announced it will postpone the removal of four offshore oil platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel until next summer.
The oil company had not received a permit from the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District required before beginning to cut down platforms Heidi, Hope, Hazel and Hilda off the coast of Carpinteria this summer, project manager Dana Billings said.
But the company had run out of time to conduct the four-month project of slicing the platforms in sections and hauling them away on barges by the end of November, Billings said.
Government officials do not want the oil giant to continue its major destruction project after November because of possible interference with migrating gray whales, Billings said.
The four platforms, built between 1958 and 1965, represent half of Chevron’s platforms off the California coast. These platforms produced about 62 million barrels of oil and 131 billion cubic feet of natural gas before they were mothballed in 1992.
“We are optimistic we will get the permit this year so we can take the platforms out next year,” Billings said.
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