swrock

could someone maybe explain something for me here.
we went out to fish some rigs that is shown on a block chart being main pass area, S. & E. addition. block 187.
on the garmin mapsource bluechart it shows the same rigs. showing three of them in 162' of water a mile or so apart.
they are located approximately at 29 31.540 88 16.850
when we got out there it was no rigs there. none in that area except one back to the north west about 5.5 miles. it shows this one on the block chart and bluechart also.
is it possible that wells were drilled and no rig has been placed there yet? or was they removed from that location?

BlueMarlin

the latest rig charts i know of are about 4-5 years old
data wise.....and there are tons of rigs which have been
removed in the past 4 years.... i have probably 20 in my
gps that have been removed.......

__________________
Glacier Bay 260 Canyon Runner
Twin Yamaha 150's
"Full Deck"

rsnapper

Yes, 187 and 187A were cut off since last October. I personally hated to see them go because I have caught so many AJ and snapper there. Some of the rigs are still there though, they were cut off not totally removed. Refer to the latest Hilton's chart for more precise lat/lon.

cgrand

keep the numbers!
the rigs were cut off...the pad & lower legs are still there
the fish are most likely still there too...

swrock

thanks for the replies. i will try to find whats left of them if i go out there again.

tex4771

Unfortunatly my offshore engineer buddy says the new federall regs require nothing to be left but the sand at the bottom of the sea after rig removal.

swrock

that is unfortunate for us fisherman. i guess the shrimpers will like it though.
i worked offshore a long time ago on jack-up barges. we did several plug and abandon jobs. they would send a "bomb" down the well with a wirline unit and blow it up about fifeteen below the mudline. this was after haliburton plugged the well with cement. then divers would go down and shackle up to it and we would lift it with a crane and put it on a barge or supply boat. all the ones we did were the small single pole rigs. it was neat to watch, and amazing how mangled the steel would be from a bomb that looked like a piece of four inch pvc pipe about two feet long. thats kinda what i figured had happened to the three i asked about. i was just confused to see them still on the charts. but i guess its like bluemarlin or someone said, they just don't update the charts that often.

cgrand

there is a charter captain in venice (capt al walker) who is leading a crusade to have spent rigs either left in place or cut off at a safe navigational depth to preserve the artificial reef & its inhabitants

check out his site at http://www.towersoflife.com/

swrock

now that would be nice.

Tom Hilton

There are requirements for the well to be capped below the mud line, then the area dragged to remove any debris. However, there is a 2 year time frame for this to be performed, so if you hit the old wellsites fairly soon after removal, there's a chance they haven't done it yet. In addition, it has been my experience that the rigs located in 100 ft+ of water are not cleaned as efficiently as the shallow water rigs. They are definitely worth hitting.


Then there's the wellheads and cutoffs - I'm not sure what dictates which rig is selected for this. Our new Realtime-Navigator website (www.reatime-navigator.com) features the latest rig locations updated once a month.
All the best,
Tom Hilton