Minerals Management Service (MMS) on a regular basis publishes data that is valuable information in the evaluation of potential hydrocarbon leads in the Gulf of Mexico.  This publication (Potential Hydrocarbon Prospects and Public Data for Sale 194 and Sale 197) highlights information related to potential prospects and other associated information on tracts that will be available for bid in the Central Gulf of Mexico Sale 194 and Eastern Gulf of Mexico Sale 197.

There have been discoveries and developmental activities recently announced by industry in the Central and Eastern Gulf of Mexico.  Innovative development scenarios for fields in deep water with smaller volumes have allowed otherwise uneconomic gas reserves to reach the market.  We have selected several drilled and undrilled leads on available OCS acreage that typify potential plays in various structural and stratigraphic settings.  Selected wells of interest related to the prospects or unleased blocks containing hydrocarbons that never produced are identified.   Detailed information on all of the plays in the Gulf of Mexico is available in the MMS 2000 National Assessment.
 
In 2001, MMS began to offer incentives (Deep Gas Initiative) to encourage drilling for potential gas targets in the Deep Shelf Gas Trend.  There are several fields, active and expired, in the Central Gulf of Mexico planning area that are in less than 200 meters of water and that have gas production from below 15,000 feet TVDSS. Detailed information from these and other Gulf of Mexico fields is available in the 1999 Offshore Atlas, available through the MMS Public Information Office.  Production data for each field in the Gulf of Mexico is available in the MMS OCS Field Directory, which is updated monthly on the MMS website. The Central Gulf of Mexico map identifies wells that have recently been released to the public and have been drilled to total depths greater than 15,000 feet TVDSS. We have included data from over 1,800 of these wells; it may provide pertinent information for the identification and evaluation of prospects for the Central Gulf of Mexico Sale194 and Eastern Gulf of Mexico Sale 197.  The well information attached to the above map is also summarized and available in a spreadsheet format.  Additional information on wells with occurrences of hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Mexico is available in the MMS publication Indicated Hydrocarbon List.  Highlighted on this map also are OCS tracts that received bids in previous lease sales, but were not awarded because the high bid amounts were determined by MMS to be below Fair Market Value (i.e., "Rejected Bids").  These tracts are available for bid in the Central Gulf of Mexico Sale 194.

The well information provided in this publication is just a sample and does not represent all of the well information that MMS has available for the public.  Additional information (such as complete suites of well logs available in hard copy, digital format and/or as raster images, paleontological data, etc.) on the wells highlighted in this publication is available through the MMS website and /or the MMS Public Information Office  (1-800-200-GULF).  In addition to well data, there are other data available to download via the MMS' Public Information Website or to order via MMS' Fast Facts.   

The Potential Hydrocarbon Prospects and Public Data web page will undergo a review in the near future.  If you have any comments concerning the content or products referenced in this publication, please contact Peter Harrison at 504-736-2918 or email peter.harrison@mms.gov.

Disclaimer