The Repurposing Offshore Infrastructure for Continued Energy (ROICE) program at the University of Houston has been awarded approximately $750,000 by the Gulf Research Program, a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, to establish a workforce academy focused on preparing skilled technical workers for the growing field of offshore decommissioning in the Gulf region.
Launched in 2022 as a thought experiment, ROICE has grown into a vital space for researchers to explore ways to repurpose thousands of inactive wells, pipelines, and platforms in the Gulf, allowing UH to bring deep expertise to this initiative.
Under its Training Initiative for Decommissioning and Energy Skills in the Gulf Region (TIDES) project, ROICE will establish a workforce academy and train skilled technical workers without bachelor's degrees for careers in offshore orphaned and abandoned well decommissioning in the Gulf region.
“We gratefully acknowledge this grant from the Gulf Research Program. This grant enables UH and its partners to develop the workforce needed for responsible decommissioning, a key focus of the ROICE program.”
— Ram Seetharam, ROICE Program Executive Director, University of Houston
In this 36-month initiative, ROICE will focus its recruitment efforts on people in the Gulf Coast region, specifically the Greater Houston area.
The program will partner with community organizations and offshore operators to train at least 150 participants over the three-year span. Participants will receive wraparound support services including tuition assistance, transportation subsidies, and job placement coordination. The program is scheduled to launch in the spring of 2028.
An advisory board made up of companies that provide services throughout the decommissioning industry will guide the initiative. Industry participation will help ensure that the curriculum remains relevant to current technologies, operational practices, safety requirements, and employment opportunities.
UH advancing innovation in the workforce
The TIDES project is part of the efforts to address energy infrastructure and workforce needs that the University of Houston’s leadership has been building.
In April 2026, the Gulf Offshore Research Institute and the University of Houston announced a $20 million award through the Gulf Futures Challenge.
In August 2025, Ganesh Thakur, director of UH Energy Industrial Partnerships, and George Wong, graduate studies director at the Cullen College of Engineering, received $1.1 million from the Ocean Energy Safety Institute to advance deepwater production innovation.