On 28 January 2008, a fatal accident occurred on Hercules Offshore (Hercules) Rig 251, Galveston Area Block 151, Lease OCS-G 15740, in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Texas. Hall-Houston, the operator, had contracted Hercules Offshore to conduct well work that included installing a 60-inch over-drive caisson over a well. In the course of that operation, two welders from Frank's Casing Crews (Frank's) began cutting a hole in the pollution pan big enough to allow the passage of the drive pipe caisson. While cutting the hole, the welders also cut several apparently extraneous 3-inches wide metal...

Those quantities of hydrocarbons which are anticipated to be recovered from known accumulations from a given date forward are reserves. All reserve estimates involve some degree of uncertainty. The uncertainty depends chiefly on the amount of reliable geologic and engineering data available at the time of the estimate and the interpretation of these data. The relative degree of uncertainty may be conveyed by placing reserves into one of two principal classifications, either unproved or proved.

The Lorelay was built in Germany in 1974 and was converted in The Netherlands in 1986 to be the first pipelay vessel to use full dynamic positioning. The Lorelay was registered in the Republic of Panama in 1986. Its overall length is 182.48 meters, and the cargo hold has a maximum capacity of 10,200 tons. The Lorelay has the capacity to lay pipe with diameters from 2 inches to 36 inches. Because of the dynamic positioning, the vessel has the capacity for laying pipe in deep water. It has accommodations for up to 216 persons onboard. Crew support facilities include medical facilities with a...

An accident that resulted in one fatality and an injury occurred on the Hercules Offshore Rig 120 (the rig) contracted by Chevron USA Inc. (Chevron) to conduct sidetracking operations from Lease OCS-G-4903, Main Pass (MP) Block 30, Well No. A-14 ST01 (the well), in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) offshore Louisiana, on 7 March 2009 at approximately 2158 hours. Lifting operations from the rig floor were in progress utilizing the rig floor air tugger (air-operated hoist) to position a 2- inch rubber hose, with internal steel construction rated for high pressure, for testing the well's 13-3/8 inch x...

A field is an area consisting of a single reservoir or multiple reservoirs all grouped on, or related to, the same general geologic structural feature and/or stratigraphic trapping condition. There may be two or more reservoirs in a field that are separated vertically by impervious strata, laterally by local geologic barriers, or by both. The area may include one OCS lease, a portion of an OCS lease, or a group of OCS leases with one or more wells that have been approved as producible by the MMS pursuant to the requirements of Title 30 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 250.115/116,...

The pipe handler machine was being used to relocate tubulars from the catwalk to the pipe bay deck. A Roustabout was serving as the pipe handler operator (Operator) and supervisor for the task, while being accompanied by another Roustabout acting as a pipe handler spotter (Spotter). The Operator proceeded to traverse the pipe handler approximately 16 feet on its trolley back to the starboard side in preparation to pick-up the next joint. The Operator then noticed the Spotter was injured and lying down on the pipe deck, so the Operator immediately pressed the pipe handler's emergency stop...

As petroleum exploration expands into, and beyond the waters of the OCS, the potential exists, via accidental spills, to adversely impact pelagic recreational and commercial fisheries. Surface petroleum spills in pelagic waters of the OCS will primarily impact those species of fishes and crustaceans that inhabit the epipelagic zone of the open ocean. Members of this group include several species that command a high monetary and socio-economic value (e.g., tunas, wahoos, and billfishes), as well as ecologically important or indicator species (e.g., flying fishes, ocean sunfishes). Spills in...

Effects of Oil and Gas Development: A Current Awareness Bibliography was created as part of the research initiative between the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON), the Minerals Management Service (MMS) and the Coastal Marine Institute (CMI), with the aim of providing current awareness in all aspects of offshore oil and gas development. Sixteen quarterly issues were prepared from January 2001 to October 2004 that contained approximately 2,250 citations, and were compiled into Effects of Oil and Gas Development: A Current Awareness Bibliography.

At the end of 2003, there were nearly 4,000 structures in the federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) associated with hydrocarbon production: 2,175 active (producing) structures, 1,227 idle (non-producing) structures, and 505 auxiliary (never-producing) structures. Since 1947, when production in the GOM first began, over 2,200 structures have been removed from federal waters, and over the past decade, 125 structures on average have been removed annually. The purpose of this report is to describe the operational aspects of removal processes in the GOM and to develop a production-based model...

The objective of this project is to develop a climatology of certain ocean features in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) using data sets that span long time periods (i.e., as long as 32 years in some cases) to create the statistics. Twelve (12) separate statistics were created, some of which described characteristics of the Loop Current, while others were involved with warm core eddies that separate from the Loop Current and cold core eddies. The data resources used to create this climatology included analyzed in-situ data from ships of opportunity, from field programs in the GOM, and from the...