An oil platform is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platforms will also have facilities to accommodate the workers,although it is also common to have a separate accommodation platform linked by bridge to the production platform. Most commonly,oil platforms engage in activities on the continental shelf,though they can also be used in lakes,inshore waters,and inland seas. Depending on the circumstances,the platform may be fixed to the ocean floor,consist of an artificial island,or float. In some arrangements the main facility may have storage facilities for the processed oil. Remote subsea wells may also be connected to a platform by flow lines and by umbilical connections. These sub-sea facilities may include one or more subsea wells or manifold centres for multiple wells.
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) was an agency of the United States Department of the Interior that managed the nation's natural gas,oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf (OCS).
William Kane Reilly was Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George H. W. Bush. He has served as president of World Wildlife Fund,as a founder or advisor to several business ventures,and on many boards of directors. In 2010,he was appointed by President Barack Obama co-chair of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling to investigate the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Offshore drilling is a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently extract petroleum that lies in rock formations beneath the seabed. Most commonly,the term is used to describe drilling activities on the continental shelf,though the term can also be applied to drilling in lakes,inshore waters and inland seas.
Subsea technology involves fully submerged ocean equipment,operations,or applications,especially when some distance offshore,in deep ocean waters,or on the seabed. The term subsea is frequently used in connection with oceanography,marine or ocean engineering,ocean exploration,remotely operated vehicle (ROVs) autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs),submarine communications or power cables,seafloor mineral mining,oil and gas,and offshore wind power.
Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater,dynamically positioned,semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean and operated by the BP company. On April 20,2010,while drilling in the Gulf of Mexico at the Macondo Prospect,a blowout caused an explosion on the rig that killed 11 crewmen and ignited a fireball visible from 40 miles (64 km) away. The fire was inextinguishable and,two days later,on April 22,the Horizon collapsed,leaving the well gushing at the seabed and becoming the largest marine oil spill in history.
Rigs-to-Reefs (RTR) is the practice of converting decommissioned offshore oil and petroleum rigs into artificial reefs. Such biotic reefs have been created from oil rigs in the United States,Brunei and Malaysia. In the United States,where the practice started and is most common,Rigs-to-Reefs is a nationwide program developed by the former Minerals Management Service (MMS),now Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE),of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The United States offshore drilling debate is an ongoing debate in the United States about whether,the extent to which,in which areas,and under what conditions,further offshore drilling should be allowed in U.S.-administered waters.
Offshore oil and gas in the United States provides a large portion of the nation’s oil and gas supply. Large oil and gas reservoirs are found under the sea offshore from Louisiana,Texas,California,and Alaska. Environmental concerns have prevented or restricted offshore drilling in some areas,and the issue has been hotly debated at the local and national levels.
Offshore oil and gas in California provides a significant portion of the state's petroleum production. Offshore oil and gas has been a contentious issue for decades,first over the question of state versus federal ownership,but since 1969 mostly over questions of resource development versus environmental protection.
Offshore drilling for oil and gas on the Atlantic coast of the United States took place from 1947 to the early 1980s. Oil companies drilled five wells in Atlantic Florida state waters and 51 exploratory wells on federal leases on the outer continental shelf of the Atlantic coast. None of the wells were completed as producing wells. All the leases have now reverted to the government.
Offshore oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico is a major source of oil and natural gas in the United States. The western and central Gulf of Mexico,which includes offshore Texas,Louisiana,Mississippi,and Alabama,is one of the major petroleum-producing areas of the United States. Oil production from US federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico reached an all-time annual high of 1.65 million barrels per day in 2017. Oil production is expected to continue the upward trend in 2018 and 2019,based on ten new oil fields which are planned to start production in those years. According to the Energy Information Administration,"Gulf of Mexico federal offshore oil production accounts for 15% of total U.S. crude oil production and federal offshore natural gas production in the Gulf accounts for 5% of total U.S. dry production."
The Dos Cuadras Offshore Oil Field is a large oil and gas field underneath the Santa Barbara Channel about eight miles southeast of Santa Barbara,California. Discovered in 1968,and with a cumulative production of over 260 million barrels of oil,it is the 24th-largest oil field within California and the adjacent waters. As it is in the Pacific Ocean outside of the 3-mile tidelands limit,it is a federally leased field,regulated by the U.S. Department of the Interior rather than the California Department of Conservation. It is entirely produced from four drilling and production platforms in the channel,which as of 2009 were operated by Dos Cuadras Offshore Resources (DCOR),LLC,a private firm based in Ventura. A blowout near one of these platforms –Unocal's Platform A –was responsible for the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill that was formative for the modern environmental movement,and spurred the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act.
The Macondo Prospect is an oil and gas prospect in the United States Exclusive Economic Zone of the Gulf of Mexico,off the coast of Louisiana. The prospect was the site of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion in April 2010 that led to a major oil spill in the region from the first exploration well,named itself MC252-1,which had been designed to investigate the existence of the prospect.
Chris Craig Oynes was an American lawyer and federal government administrator.
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is an agency under the United States Department of the Interior. Established in 2011,BSEE is the lead agency in charge of improving safety and ensuring environmental protection relating to the offshore energy industry,mainly natural gas and oil,on the United States Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The agency exercises the safety and environmental enforcement functions formerly under the Minerals Management Service,including the authority to inspect;investigate;summon witnesses and produce evidence;levy penalties;cancel or suspend activities;and oversee safety,response,and removal preparedness.
Following is a Timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for May 2010.
The Back to Work Coalition is a group of twelve offshore oil and gas industry stakeholders and trade associations,that have banded together to oppose the federal and regulatory policies placed on the industry following the Deepwater Horizon oil well explosion of April 2010. After the explosion,the Obama administration imposed a federal moratorium on deepwater drilling that lasted through mid-October 2010. The Back to Work Coalition was created in December 2010 to combat what the members believe is a "de facto" moratorium,caused by the federal government's hesitance in issuing drilling permits on the gulf's Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The coalition was founded by Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Secretary Scott Angelle. The coalition is facilitated by the Gulf Economic Survival Team (GEST),a non-profit organization created to restore Louisiana's economy following the moratorium.
The Deepwater Horizon investigation included several investigations and commissions,among others reports by National Incident Commander Thad Allen,United States Coast Guard,National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling,Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,Regulation and Enforcement,National Academy of Engineering,National Research Council,Government Accountability Office,National Oil Spill Commission,and Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
The Offshore Energy and Jobs Act is a bill that was introduced into the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress. The Offshore Energy and Jobs Act would revise existing law governing the leasing,operation,and development of oil and natural gas resources available in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The bill is primarily supported by Republicans and is opposed by President Barack Obama.
