No, not marital culture, though come to think of it… Divers, anyone want to buy a platform?
Dateline 2014-02-25, Borneo Post Online:
MOST of the offshore oil and gas platforms in Malaysia are built to last for approximately 25 to 30 years. The decommissioning of platforms is expected to be scaled up between 2013 and 2015, as 600 of the 900 offshore platforms are over 20 years old.
With the cost of decommissioning a conventional medium-sized structure at approximately US$3 million, oil companies are keen to find alternative options such as using the decommissioned platforms for other purposes such as marine culture, hotel and diving resorts, artificial reefs and rigs, marine research centres and control centres. Some of these ideas have been applied successfully, an example being the Seaventures Rig Dive Resort at Sipadan Island, Sabah, which was a platform turned into a hotel resort and diving centre.
The concept of using decommissioned oil rigs for mariculture (deep-sea fish farming) is realistic. The platform serves as an operational hub where all facilities related to farm fishing and crew are provided. It can easily support quarters for crew, storage for food and other supplies, docking facilities and a monitoring spot.
Besides reusing part of the structure as an operational hub, the structure of the platform can be used and manipulated as an anchor for mooring cages and nets near the platform. The structure can also be used as a hatchery, which will reduce transportation and operational costs. Indeed, the options are quite extensive.
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Wata - Malaysian Oil and Gas Engineer 