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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 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 website and /or the Public Information Office (1-800-200-GULF). In addition to well data, there are
other data available to download via the
Public Information Website or to order via
Data Center.
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.comDisclaimer
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