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Karen M. Collins

Publications and source records attributed to Karen M. Collins.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1982

Pacific summary report 2: A revision of Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas activities in the Pacific (Southern California) and their onshore impacts: A summary report, May 1980

The Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is an established hydrocarbon-producing region. Oil and gas have been produced from the Santa Barbara Channel (both State and Federal acreage) since 1896. Almost 77,000 barrels of oil are produced from the California Federal OCS each day as of December 1981, and leases on State tidelands produce about 40,000 barrels of oil per day. This highly developed area is, of course, but a small part of the Pacific OCS, which also includes Northern California, Washington, and Oregon. The petroleum industry has expressed interest in exploring frontier areas, and as frontier acreage is offered in future lease sales, exploration, development, and production may move out into deeper water. The technology is currently being developed and tested to allow deepwater exploration. To date, offshore drilling operations have resulted in the delineation of 11 offshore oil and gas fields and 2 gas fields in the Southern California OCS. A recent discovery off Point Arguello, California, may lead to delineation of a new field. Reserve estimates have been made for the known fields in the region. Remaining recoverable reserves are estimated at 787 million barrels of oil and over 1.7 trillion cubic feet of gas as of December 31, 1980. Estimates of undiscovered recoverable resources in the offshore Santa Maria Basin and Southern California OCS are over 3.5 billion barrels of oil and in excess of 5 trillion cubic feet of gas. To date, there have been seven oil and gas lease sales in the Pacific OCS Region. An average of one lease sale per year is scheduled through 1985. Industry interest indicates that the Santa Barbara Channel's potential has not yet been fully explored, and some basins to the south, as well as in the Santa Maria Basin, are now gaining considerable interest. Future exploratory activity in the San Pedro Bay and the Santa Maria Basin is likely to increase. Exploration, development, and production in the Pacific OCS Region are increasing at a moderate pace. Pipelines continue to be the preferred mode of transporting Pacific OCS hydrocarbons to shore. The State and the Federal Governments have expressed a commitment to the use of pipelines where possible and economically feasible. Tankers traveling in the Pacific and entering California ports carry, for the most part, imported oil. The region is active in OCS transportation planning; the Bureau of Land Management works through the Pacific States Regional Technical Working Group Committee. Onshore, the Petroleum Transportation Committee (formerly the Joint Government/Industry Pipeline Working Group) is evaluating a number of transportation scenarios. The nearshore and onshore petroleum processing facilities in the Pacific Region service onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration, development, and production, as well as the international oil market. Many of the onshore facilities have been in operation for years, supporting California's extensive onshore and offshore production. Several new facilities have been proposed, are currently under construction, or have recently opened. Shell Oil opened a crude oil distribution facility near Long Beach in December 1980. Operations began at Union Oil's Mandalay Beach separation and treatment plant in December 1981. The Pacific Offshore Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of the Pacific Lighting Corporation, is planning to build a gas treatment plant at Las Flores Canyon; completion of this project is scheduled for July 1983. It is expected that these new facilities, in addition to the established plants, will be able to accommodate any new OCS production in the near term from previously leased areas.

California↗
USGS1982

Gulf of Mexico summary report 3 August 1982: A revision of Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico and their onshore impacts: Gulf of Mexico summary report 2, August 1981

Now, and for the near future, the Gulf of Mexico will remain the most developed Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) region in the United States and the world. Virtually all production from the U.S. OCS emanates from the Gulf of Mexico. In calendar year 1981, for the two primary categories of hydrocarbons produced from the OCS, oil/condensate and gas, Gulf production accounted for over 94 and 99 percent, respectively. Oil production for 1981 was 0.27 billion barrels, and gas production was 4.84 trillion cubic feet. Although most of the shallow-water areas of the Gulf of Mexico Continental Shelf have been explored, considerable amounts of hydrocarbons may yet be discovered in deepwater locations. Industry has been developing the technology to explore deepwater areas, and interest in these portions of the Gulf is increasing. As of December 1981, the total of all identified oil and gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico OCS increased to 505 from 482 at the end of the previous year; this net increase of 23 fields discovered in 1981 compares to net increases of 50 in 1980, 51 in 1979, and 25 in 1978. The number of active fields increased from 466 in 1981, and fields for which reserve estimates have been made increased from 419 to 445. As of January 1982, 19,736 offshore oil and gas wells had been drilled in the Gulf of Mexico OCS; most of the wells (17,257) are off the coast of Louisiana. Currently, there are 2,027 active oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico; 1,200 of them are producing leases. The Department of the Interior's 5-year OCS oil and gas leasing schedule projects 2 to 3 Gulf of Mexico lease sales per year through 1987, for a total of 12 offerings, and starting in 1983, the Gulf will be divided into three planning areas. Resource estimates issued for the following Gulf of Mexico lease sales are as follows: Lease Sale 67--75.16 million barrels of oil and 1.03 trillion cubic feet of gas; Lease Sale 69--48.24 million barrels of oil and .785 trillion cubic feet of gas; Lease Sale 72--97 million barrels of oil and 1.04 trillion cubic feet of gas; Lease Sale 74--29 million barrels of oil and .525 trillion cubic feet of gas; and Lease Sale 79--123 million barrels of oil and .157 trillion cubic feet of gas. Since 1972, oil production in the Gulf of Mexico has declined each year, and gas production, thought to have reached its peak in 1981, is also expected to begin a noticeable decline. To date, most of the oil and gas discovered in the Gulf has occurred on the Texas-Louisiana Shelf, but in the future, oil and gas exploration is likely to include a number of areas where previous leasing has not been extensive. The West Florida Shelf, especially the area off the coast of southwest Florida and the deepwater areas southeast of the Mississippi River Delta, are potential areas for future exploration. As production begins to decline from mature fields, smaller fields will become economically producible, and implementation of secondary and tertiary recovery techniques will make it possible to extract more oil and gas from reservoirs than was possible previously. Each year, hundreds of miles of pipelines are added to the existing network in the Gulf of Mexico. Recently, there have been a number of proposals for deepwater ports and transshipment terminals as well as projects including the deepening or widening of existing conventional ports. The process of transportation planning in the Gulf of Mexico is done by industry and government through the Intergovernmental Planning Program and its Regional Technical Working Group. The Gulf Coast region is an area of significant onshore oil and gas activity, with many cities and towns offering a wide range of services and supplies to onshore and offshore oil operators and their ancillary industries. While the western and central Gulf oil and gas support infrastructure is quite extensive and complex, the support facilities in the eastern Gulf are still in the early stages of development. In the likely event of a decline in Gulf OCS production, imported oil may be substituted for dwindling domestic stocks at Gulf Coast refineries. Planners must consider impacts generated by changes in oil and gas productivity and focus on finding alternative uses for facilities and alternative employment for workers.

Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas↗
USGS1981

Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Information Program: Gulf of Mexico index (January 1978 - November 1980)

The United States is currently engaged in an effort to develop the oil and gas resources of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). In the Gulf of Mexico, State jurisdiction extends for 3 leagues (9 nautical miles or 16.68 km) off the coast of Texas and the western coast of Florida and for 3 geographical (nautical) miles (5.56 km) from the coastlines of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The Gulf of Mexico OCS, which comprises the submerged lands of the Continental Shelf seaward of the Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas State boundaries, is under Federal jurisdiction. Activities occurring offshore must be supplied and supported from land, and the onshore activities required may have significant effects on the communities in which they occur. For example, oil and gas production might involve the expansion of existing transportation and processing facilities and the construction of new ones, and it might trigger an influx of workers and change employment patterns. These effects, in turn, could influence regional income, demand on public services, tax revenues, and air and water quality.

Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas↗
USGS1981

Gulf of Alaska and Lower Cook Inlet summary report 2, June 1981: A revision of Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Alaska (including Lower Cook Inlet) and their onshore impacts: A summary report, September 1980

The search for oil and gas on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf of Alaska subregion of the Alaska leasing Region began in 1967, when geophysical surveys of the area were initiated. Three lease sales have been held in the subregion. Lease Sale 39, for the northern Gulf of Alaska, was held on April 13, 1976, and resulted in the leasing of 76 tracts. Lease Sale CI, for Lower Cook Inlet, was held on October 27, 1977, and resulted in the leasing of 87 tracts. Lease Sale 55, held on October 21, 1980, resulted in the leasing of 35 tracts in the eastern Gulf of Alaska. Exploratory drilling on the tracts leased in Sale 39 began in September 1976, and exploratory drilling on tracts leased in Sale CI began in July 1978. Drilling stopped on Lease Sale 39 tracts in July 1978 and on CI tracts in June 1980. No additional applications for permit to drill have been submitted for either area. Exploratory drilling is expected to begin on tracts leased in Sale 55 in the spring or summer of 1982. Commercial amounts of hydrocarbons have not been found in any of the wells drilled in either the Sale 39 or Sale CI areas. As of February 1981, 75 of the 76 leases issued in the northern Gulf of Alaska have been relinquished, and 18 of the 87 CI leases have been relinquished. The next lease sale in the Gulf of Alaska, Sale RS-1 (a reoffering sale), is scheduled for late June 1981. Lease Sale 60 (Lower Cook Inlet and Shelikof Strait) is scheduled for September 1981. The most recent estimate by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) of risked, economically recoverable resources for the one tract currently under lease in the northern Gulf of Alaska is that they are negligible. For the 35 tracts currently under lease (plus two tracts offered but not leased) in the northeastern Gulf of Alaska, the USGS has estimated risked, economically recoverable resource estimates of 12.6 million barrels of oil and 45.4 billion cubic feet of gas. Onshore impacts from OCS exploration in the Gulf of Alaska have been minimal. Two communities--Yakutat and Seward--served as support bases for past northern Gulf of Alaska exploration efforts. Kenai and Homer provided support for the exploratory drilling in Lower Cook Inlet. Yakutat will serve as the support base for Sale 55 exploration activities.

Alaska↗