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OCS Scientific Committee Meeting Summary
Deepwater Session
Background: The oil and gas industry is showing great interest in the
deepwater portions of the Gulf of Mexico. Advancements in deepwater drilling technology
over the past few years have enabled the industry to move out into water depths exceeding
7,500 feet, something unheard of only 5-6 years ago. As a result, the number and
percentage of deepwater tracts leased in the Gulf of Mexico has grown
“exponentially” during the past few years, and there are now more than 1,800
existing oil and gas leases in water depths of 1,000 ft or greater in the Central and
Western Gulf of Mexico planning areas. This new “frontier” brings with it new
issues that the MMS must consider in its ocean resources management role.
The MMS, along with Louisiana State University, sponsored a Deepwater Drilling Workshop on
July 30, 1997. The purpose of this workshop was to promote dialog among academic,
scientists, industry, and MMS representatives concerning the potential development of new
technology for drilling in ultra-deep water. This workshop focused both on defining the
environmental and socioeconomic problems that will be unique to deepwater operations and
on potential problem solutions.
The OCS Scientific Committee Deepwater Subcommittee convened October 1-2, 1997, in New
Orleans, Louisiana. The purpose of this meeting was to initiate in-depth subcommittee
activity on providing advice and guidance to MMS on deepwater information needs using the
recent deepwater workshop sponsored by MMS and LSU. Focus was on identifying issues and
information needs with direct reference/ application to MMS decision making and management
responsibilities.
The arrival of the deepwater era in the Gulf of Mexico brings new, and often unique,
environmental, socioeconomic and technological concerns and issues to all the
stakeholders, and especially to MMS in terms of its management responsibility and decision
making information requirements.
- Deepwater Subcommittee Report on Gulf of Mexico Research Program. Dr. William
Schroeder stated that this Subcommittee recently convened on October 15-16, 1998,
in New Orleans, Louisiana. The purpose of this meeting was threefold: a retrospective
analysis of the FY 1998 research plan; a focused review of the proposed FY 1999 deepwater
research plan; and discussions on the long range research strategy out to the year 2001 to
meet MMS’s information needs for decisionmaking on deepwater activities anticipated
for the future. The Committee reviewed and voted on the Deepwater Subcommittee’s
Report which was created as a result of this meeting.
For more information, contact Julie Reynolds.
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