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To
Our Guests:
 Welcome to our web site Thank you for taking the time to visit with
us.
On July 30, 2008, Interior Secretary Kempthorne
and I announced a major
new energy initiative for the nation's Outer Continental Shelf
(OCS). Today's action not only highlights the important role the OCS
plays in meeting America's energy needs -- it will also open
discussions across the country about how best to expand the nation's
domestic energy production.In light of the current energy situation and
President Bush’s lifting of the Executive Withdrawal, Secretary
Kempthorne directed the MMS to begin the initial steps for
developing a
new Five-Year Program. We are, in effect, getting a two-year
jumpstart on that process, but it is still a multi-step and
multi-year effort to develop the program.
The current Five-Year Program took effect on July
1, 2007 at a time when oil was only $64 a barrel and does not
contain many of the areas that were under Withdrawal and remain
under Congressional ban. Should the Congressional ban be lifted, a
new program would have to be developed to make those areas
available.
(07/31/2008) 
Randall Luthi,
Director
Minerals Management Service
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Hurricane
Gustav/Hurricane Ike Activity Statistics Update – November
19, 2008
Minerals Management Service Monitors
Activities for Both Storms Through its Continuity of
Operations Plan
 NEW
ORLEANS
Offshore oil
and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico are reboarding platforms and
restoring production following both Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane
Ike. The Minerals Management Service is monitoring activities for
both hurricanes through its Continuity of Operations Plan team. This
team will be activated until operations return to normal.
Based on
data from offshore operator reports submitted as of 11:30
a.m. CDT today, personnel are evacuated from a total of 58
production platforms, equivalent to 8.4% of the 694 manned
platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Production platforms are
the structures located offshore from which oil and natural
gas are produced. These structures remain in the same
location throughout a project’s duration unlike drilling
rigs which typically move from location to location.
There
are no longer any evacuated rigs in the Gulf. Rigs can
include several types of self-contained offshore drilling
facilities including jackups, submersibles and
semisubmersibles.(11/19/2008)
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Minerals Management Service Updates Number
of Offshore Facilities Impacted by Hurricane Ike
5
Confirmation of
Destruction and Damage Reports from Offshore Operators Continues
NEW ORLEANS Offshore operators continue to
report damage from Hurricane Ike to the Minerals Management Service
(MMS) Gulf of Mexico Regional Office. This information is compiled
and used by MMS staff in reviewing and approving repair plans
submitted by the oil and gas operators in order to resume oil and
gas production from the Gulf of Mexico.
MMS estimates that from September 13, 2008 through
September 14, 2008, approximately 1,450 oil and gas production
platforms in the Gulf of Mexico were exposed to hurricane
conditions, winds greater than 74 miles per hour. As of August 2008,
there were more than 3,800 production platforms in the Gulf of
Mexico; these structures range in size from single well caissons in
water depths of ten feet to a large complex facility in water depth
greater than 7,000 feet.
Offshore Infrastructure Destroyed – As of
October 6, 2008, 54 of the 3,800 offshore oil and gas production
platforms have been confirmed as destroyed. Initial estimates are
that the 54 destroyed production platforms produced a total of
13,300 barrels of oil per day and 90 million cubic feet of gas per
day. (10/07/2008) |
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MMS
Responds to 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
Decision We were just made
aware of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision and of course are
disappointed by the ruling. We intend to review the court’s ruling
closely.
MMS completed an extensive Environmental
Assessment of the Shell exploration proposal, supported by a
1596-page Environmental Impact Statement, along with other
environmental reviews. These extensively analyzed potential impacts
to wildlife, including the bowhead whale and subsistence activities.
We believe that MMS did conduct the required “hard look” to see if
an environmental impact statement was necessary. (11/20/2008)
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MMS
Initiates Oil and Gas Leasing
Process for Offshore Virginia
Initial
Information-Gathering Steps Begin for Proposed Sale 220
 WASHINGTON,
D.C. — The
Minerals Management Service (MMS) has taken the first step in the
multi-year leasing process to hold a sale for acreage offshore
Virginia. The Call for Information and Interest/Nominations and
Notice of Intent (Call/NOI) to Prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) will be published in the November 13th
Federal Register, beginning a 45-day public comment period.
The purpose of the Call/NOI is
to gather information to use for planning and analysis and does
not indicate a preliminary decision to hold a lease sale. The
final decision will be made at a later date only if the sale is in
compliance with applicable laws including all requirements of the
OCS Lands Act and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
"At the request of the Governor, MMS included the
area offshore Virginia based on the Commonwealth's current energy
policy and continued interest in knowing what resources may be off
its coastline," said
MMS Director Randall Luthi. This sale, referred to
as Lease Sale 220,
is proposed to be held in 2011.
(11/12/2008)
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MMS
Report Details Excavation of Historic Shipwreck:
Artifacts Yield Clues to Colonial Commerce in
the Gulf of Mexico
 The
archaeological excavation of a historic shipwreck, the deepest
scientific recovery of artifacts ever attempted in the Gulf of
Mexico, is the subject of a report published by the U.S. Department
of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS), the federal
agency that regulates the development of the nation’s offshore
energy resources. (10/29/2008)
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