Minerals Management Service (MMS) publishes information on a regular basis to provide valuable information for the evaluation of potential hydrocarbon prospects in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).  In 1995, MMS first published the Indicated Hydrocarbon List (IHL), which identifies open tracts with wellbores containing hydrocarbons.  Selected tracts on the IHL were mapped to define the trapping mechanism of the wells containing hydrocarbons. In 2001, MMS began offering incentives to encourage drilling of potential gas targets in the Deep Shelf Gas Trend.  This publication (Potential Hydrocarbon Prospects for Sale 196) highlights information related to potential prospects on tracts in both categories; these tracts will be available for bid in the Western Gulf of Mexico Sale 196.
 
We have selected several potential hydrocarbon prospects to highlight on unleased OCS acreage in the Western Planning Area (WPA).  Several of these prospects are in areas (water depth <= 200 m) and at drilling objective depths (total depth >= 15,000’ TVDSS) that may qualify for the Deep Gas Initiative if natural gas discoveries are made.  Because of the proprietary nature of the data, information may have been omitted from some of the prospects. There are several fields, active and expired, in the WPA that are in less than 200 meters of water and that have gas production from below 15,000’ TVDSS. Numerous wells have been drilled in the Western Gulf of Mexico that have total depths greater than 15,000' TVDSS and in water depths of less than 200 meters.  We have included information from over 160 of these wells, as well as other wells of interest, which may provide pertinent information for the identification and evaluation of prospects for the Western Gulf of Mexico Sale 196. Additionally, we have highlighted selected WGOM fields that are either producing or have produced from low-resistivity, low-contrast reservoirs.  Detailed information from these and other Gulf of Mexico fields is available in the 1999 Offshore Atlas.  The complete 1999 Offshore Atlas is 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.  Log images of selected Wells of Interest pertaining to potential prospects can be accessed from the prospect map (clicking on the well) or the protraction base map.  All well information used in this publication is summarized and available in a spreadsheet format.   Identified also on the well location maps for each protraction area are unleased OCS tracts that received bids in previous Western Gulf of Mexico sales, but were not awarded because the high bid was determined by MMS to be inadequate (i.e. "Rejected Bid").  These tracts are available for bid in the Western Gulf of Mexico Sale 196.

The well information provided in this publication is just an example 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 prospects we selected to highlight in this publication represent only some of the plays in the Gulf of Mexico that we believe have the potential to produce significant hydrocarbon discoveries.  Recently, there have been several significant discoveries in some of these highlighted plays in the Western Gulf of Mexico.  Detailed information on all of the plays in the Gulf of Mexico is available in the MMS 2000 National Assessment.  If you have any comments concerning the content of this publication, please feel free to contact Peter Harrison (504)736-2918 or via e-mail peter.harrison@mms.com

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