Minerals Management Service Regional Stratigraphic Studies and Their Application to Exploration and Development of the Hydrocarbon Potential in the Gulf of Mexico

1987 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.E. Sweet ◽  
J.C. Reed
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Hydrocarbon Potential ◽  
Management Service ◽  
Exploration And Development

scholarly journals BARGE BUFFALO 292: OBSERVATIONS OF SATELLITE-TRACKED SURFACE DRIFTERS

1997 ◽  
Vol 1997 (1) ◽  
pp. 916-919
Author(s):  
Debra A. Simecek-Beatty ◽  
William J. Lehr ◽  
Walter R. Johnson ◽  
James M. Price
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Management Service ◽  
Wind Drift ◽  
Vector Correlation ◽  
Joint Program ◽  
Surface Drifters ◽  
Visual Observations

ABSTRACT As part of a joint program to use satellite-tracked drifters at accidental oil spills, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deployed three drifters supplied by the Minerals Management Service during the barge Buffalo 292 spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The deployments complemented visual observations of the oil spill and provided data for calibrating the on-scene spill model. The data-rich environment of this particular spill response made it possible to calculate the vector correlation between the drifters and a hindcast of the oil movement and to estimate the wind-drift factors for the oil-tracking drifters.

STATISTICAL ESTIMATES OF SHORELINE OIL CONTACT IN THE GULF OF MEXICO

2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 547-551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter R. Johnson ◽  
Zhen-Gang Ji ◽  
Charles F. Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Wind Field ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Ocean Current ◽  
Management Service ◽  
Outer Continental Shelf ◽  
Statistical Estimates ◽  
Level Of Concern

ABSTRACT As steward of the Federal offshore lands known as the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), Minerals Management Service (MMS), is responsible for balancing the Nation's search for commercial oil and gas with protection of the human and marine environments. The MMS regulates the development of mineral resources in an environmentally safe manner by analyzing environmental consequences of the OCS program prior to lease sales or approval of industry's plans. The Oil-Spill Risk Analysis (OSRA) model was developed by the DOI for the analysis of possible oil-spill impact from offshore oil and gas operations. The OSRA model produces statistical estimates of hypothetical oil-spill occurrence and contact from projected OCS operations. The model generates an ensemble of sea surface oil-spill trajectories by initiating thousands of oil-spill simulations at hypothetical spill locations to statistically characterize oil-spill risk in areas of prospective drilling and production and along projected pipeline routes. The hypothetical spills are initiated every day and move at the velocity of the vector sum of the surface ocean currents plus an empirical wind-induced drift of speed equal to 3.5% of the local wind speed, with a wind-speed-dependent direction (Samuels et al., 1982). The model generates oil-spill trajectories by integrating interpolated values of the wind and ocean current fields at intervals short enough to use the full spatial resolution of the ocean current and wind fields. The OSRA model, as applied to the Gulf of Mexico, uses 3-hourly ocean current fields over 7 years (1993–1999) generated by the Princeton Regional Ocean Forecast System (PROFS) (Oey et al., 2004). The PROFS is driven by synoptic winds, heat flux, and river flows. The wind field is based on the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts surface winds enhanced by observations from meteorological buoys and Coastal-Marine Automated Network stations. The same wind field used to force the ocean model is used to move the oil in the spill trajectories. As an example of environmental assessment, the OSRA model was used to estimate the spreading of oil spills by simultaneously modeling fractions of each spill, referred to as spillets. The spillets were used to calculate additional statistics, in particular, the length of coastline contacted by a large spill. The coastline was divided into equal length segments. Assumptions were made regarding what fraction of the spill (i.e., the number of spillets) that contacted a land segment would constitute a contact larger than the “level of concern.” Sensitivity of the analysis to key assumed parameters, such as the number of spillets and the level of concern, were tested.

100 Years of Oil and Gas Development: From the Marshes to Deepwater, Louisiana Has Played a Major Role in Water-Oriented Exploration and Development

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald W. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
100Th Anniversary ◽  
The State ◽  
Hydrocarbon Exploration ◽  
Oil And Gas Development ◽  
Energy Demands ◽  
Entrepreneurial Spirit ◽  
Water Depths ◽  
Exploration And Development

September, 2001 marked the 100th anniversary of the oil and gas business in Louisiana. Consequently, hydrocarbon exploration and development has been a vital part of Louisiana’s economy for over a century. In the latter part of the 1980s, the industry was considered dead or dying. Exploration and development had declined throughout the state. In the 1990s Louisiana’s industry was reborn in the deepwater of the northern Gulf of Mexico—a region that holds enormous potential in water depths that create unique exploration, development and production challenges. As technology changed, or was developed to meet the industry’s needs, new frontiers were explored. There was a pioneering entrepreneurial spirit that pushed the limits. Today, the frontier continues to expand and Louisiana is the beneficiary of this activity. One hundred years after the first discovery well in Louisiana, more than 250,000 oil and/or gas wells have been drilled in the state. In addition, over 4,000 structures are anchored parallel to its coast in water depths approaching two miles (3.2 km). From the uplands, to the swamps and marshes and into the deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana has been a leader in helping meet the Nation’s energy demands.

Performance of Steel Jacket Platforms in Recent Gulf of Mexico Hurricanes

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank J. Puskar ◽  
Sean M. Verret ◽  
Aditya Hariharan
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
American Petroleum Institute ◽  
Offshore Platforms ◽  
Management Service ◽  
Hurricane Andrew ◽  
Design Procedures ◽  
The Past ◽  
Steel Jacket ◽  
Water Damage

In the past few years there have been several large hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico that have destroyed or damaged over 200 fixed offshore platforms. These include hurricanes lvan (2004), Katrina (2005) and Rita (2005). Prior to these, the most recent hurricane to cause this level of damage was hurricane Andrew in 1992. Below water damage consisted of separated underwater braces, buckled braces, broken legs, and cracked connections. Above water damage consisted of wind and wave damage to decks and topsides equipment. Interestingly there has been little if any pile damage in any of these hurricanes. Although some newer platforms suffered damage and even destruction, most of the destroyed and damaged platforms were of older vintage and designed to American Petroleum Institute (API) Recommended Practice 2A-WSD (RP2A) practices that have since been improved. This paper summarizes the types of damage and destruction that has been found, including likely causes. It describes how some of this damage correlates to API design procedures. The work is based upon a series of projects funded by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) to study the effects of hurricanes on these types of offshore facilities.

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