PLATFORM ABANDONMENT: A SEAFARERS AND OIL INDUSTRY DILEMMA

Part 1 of this article takes up the question of what should be done with offshore platforms whose useful lives are finished. Specifically, it examines the ambiguity surrounding the "removal" stipulation found in Article 60.3 of the U.N. Law of the Sea Convention and the potential hazards that incompletely-removed platforms could present to shipping. Part 2 discusses the ways in which governments are dealing with the problem and the procedures and equipment used to dismantle and remove platforms or transform them into fish habitats.