MMS

SCIENCE

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 2 

MARCH/APRIL 2005

THE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY JOURNAL OF THE MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE

Titans 

of the Deep –

Thunder Horse

and Atlantis 

MMS Follows

the Mission

Deepwater

Operations

Preproduction

Inspection

The Role 

of MMS

District Offices

Ensure 

Production

Safety 

Growing

Support

Industry

Titans 

of the Deep –

Thunder Horse

and Atlantis 

MMS Follows

the Mission

Deepwater

Operations

Preproduction

Inspection

The Role 

of MMS

District Offices

Ensure 

Production

Safety 

Growing

Support

Industry
2 MMS OCEAN SCIENCE Science & Technology Journal

THE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY JOURNAL OF THE MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE

MARCH/APRIL 2005 Volume 2 Issue 2

3 From Start to Finish

MMS Follows the Mission

4 Deepwater Operations

Planning Prevents Problems

4 Review and Verify

Thunder Horse Preproduction Inspection

5 Exploration and Development

The Role of MMS

5 District Offices Ensure 

Production Safety 

6 Titans of the Deep

Thunder Horse Races to Production

Atlantis – City on the Rise

8 Ensuring the Safety

People, Environment, and Property

9 Thunder Horse Dedication

Secretary Norton Participates

10 Growing Support Industry

Creating New Opportunities 

and Challenges

12 New Waves

Late-breaking News & Information

For more information about the Minerals Management Service, 

check out our site on the World Wide Web:

www.mms.gov

Subscribe

To receive MMS OCEAN SCIENCE, sign up on the website

www.gomr.mms.gov, click on e-mail subscriptions on the left-hand

column, check the box marked Environmental Studies or e-mail

mary.boatman@mms.gov or call (504) 736-2781

MMS

SCIENCE

MARCH/APRIL 2005 

Volume 2 Issue 2

MMS OCEAN SCIENCE is published 

bi-monthly by the Minerals

Management Service to communicate

recent ocean science and technological

information and issues of interest related

to offshore mineral recovery, ocean

stewardship, and mineral revenues.

Please address all questions,

comments, suggestions, and changes

of address to:

Mary Boatman

MMS OCEAN SCIENCE Editor

Minerals Management Service

1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard

New Orleans, LA 70123

mary.boatman@mms.gov

(504) 736-2781

ABOUT THE COVER

Top: 

Thunder Horse topsides being assembled in Corpus Christi.

Courtesy BP Exploration & Production.

Bottom: 

(L to R): Perry Jennings, Jarvis Outlaw, 

Phil McLean, Bryan Domangue, Stephen Dessauer, Jack

Schneider, and Mike O'Brien, the MMS Thunder Horse 

Preproduction inspection team and their guides.

All photos courtesy of Minerals Management Service

unless otherwise noted.

Publication services provided by 

Schatz Publishing Group
MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE MARCH/APRIL 2005 3

Left: The MMS inspecting the safety devices on the

departing pipeline of the new Thunder Horse semisubmersible production platform. 

Below: BP’s Thunder Horse Production, Drilling and

Quarters unit (PDQ) at Kiewit’s Fabrication Yard,

Ingleside, Texas.

“MMS inspectors 

carefully watch 

each phase.”

MMS FOLLOWS THE

MISSION

FROM START TO FINISH E

xciting recent developments in

technology for producing oil

and gas have opened new

opportunities in domestic

sources of oil located in the

deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

One facility that will begin production

this year is Thunder Horse. This amazing

facility is projected to produce over twice

as much as what is normally considered

a high-volume platform! 

This issue of Ocean Science touches

the different ways the Minerals

Management Service (MMS) works with

industry operations in the GOM from

the beginning to the end of the oil and

gas project cycle.

The MMS teams with oil and gas

industry players right from the start to

ensure that natural resources are

protected, taxpayers get a fair price on

the lease of U.S. lands, and the industry

produces safely. The MMS also moves

into a regulator mode to promote safety

and environmental protection and can

intervene to shut down the project.

Before an oil and gas company can

explore for new oil deposits on the

each phase. An installed production

facility drawing first oil is also frequently

inspected and regulated by MMS. Finally,

an old facility that is no longer useful

will also be regulated by MMS, whether

dismantled or approved for use as an

artificial reef for sea life.

The MMS keeps up with cutting edge

technologies in relatively new fields,

such as deep, ultra-deepwater, and

shallow-water deep gas production so

that workers in these fields enjoy the

highest possible safety standards both

for themselves and the surrounding

atmosphere, ocean waters, and ocean

floor.

With its diverse, talented team of

scientists, engineers, and professionals,

MMS is a dedicated to an important

mission in the GOM: stewardship of the

ocean environment while securing the

energy supply and the best economic

value for the Nation. This issue is packed

with information on how MMS works

with industry to achieve this mission.

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), they

must share their plans with MMS. Leases

are approved through MMS and a fair

price is determined. Once a company

has determined the site of an oil and gas

deposit and wants to begin exploration

and development, they must submit

several sets of plans in increasing detail

so that MMS can examine them for

compliance with Federal regulations and

sound practices that minimize any

potential harm to humans and the

environment.

While a production platform is being

built, MMS inspectors carefully watch

Atlantis floating production platform under

construction in Korea. Photo courtesy of BP

Exploration & Production.
4 MMS OCEAN SCIENCE Science & Technology Journal

PLANNING PREVENTS PROBLEMS

DEEPWATER OPERATIONS

Office of Structural and Technical

Support, Technical Assessment and

Operations Support, the Field

Operations Plans Section, Leasing and

Environment office, Field Operations

Pipeline Section, and the District office,

review the documentation of these

phases. The DWOP is reviewed for its

compliance with the Code of Federal

Regulations, and safety, equipment, new

innovations, and environmental

concerns.

One production facility going

through the DWOP process is BP’s

Thunder Horse. Currently, the

Preliminary DWOP and two

amendments to it have been approved. 

MMS inspectors examine the incoming flowline

risers of the Thunder Horse semisubmersible

production platform.

T he Deep Water Operations Plan

(DWOP) is designed to address

industry and MMS concerns by

allowing an operator to know, well in

advance of significant spending, that his

proposed methods of dealing with

situations not specifically addressed in

the regulations are acceptable to MMS.

The DWOP provides MMS with

information specific to deepwater/

subsea equipment issues to demonstrate

that a deepwater project is being

developed in an acceptable manner as

mandated in the regulations. The MMS

reviews deepwater development activities

from a total system perspective,

emphasizing the operational safety,

THUNDER HORSE PREPRODUCTION INSPECTION

REVIEW AND VERIFY

T he Minerals Management Service

(MMS) inspects oil and gas

production facilities at every 

stage, from planning to post-operations.

A preproduction inspection of the

Thunder Horse facility was recently

conducted by an MMS team consisting

of Facility Engineers Stephen P. Dessauer,

Bryan Domangue, and Jarvis Outlaw, as

well as Inspectors Perry Jennings and

Phil McLean. 

The normal process for the review of

offshore production facility applications

entails analyzing schematics of safety

systems, piping systems, fire-fighting

systems, electrical systems, etc., to be

installed on a production facility. Once

the review is completed, preproduction

inspections are conducted in the field to

verify physical installation of the safety

systems as outlined in submitted

documents.

“For the smaller facilities, the team

usually just consists of a facility engineer

and an inspector. For large deepwater

platforms, it’s normally a total of three,

but in this case we had three facility

engineers and two inspectors,” said

Dessauer, explaining that the team for

the Thunder Horse was larger than usual

because the facility is so big.

The inspection of Thunder Horse

lasted five days. The team inspected the

control room in the Production,

Drilling, and Quarters (PDQ) and made

sure all the required safety devices were

present. They also checked the living

quarters for smoke detectors, gas

detectors, and other safety devices.

Production equipment was also

inspected during the visit. Some of the

components the team inspected are: 

• Incoming and departing pipelines

and their safety devices

• Separators 

• Glycol contactor 

• Fuel gas system 

• Recovered oil system 

• Sump system 

• Chemical and water injection system 

• Emergency shut-down stations 

The MMS inspectors and a guide on the heliport of

the Thunder Horse platform in Ingleside, Texas. In

the background is the derrick.

environmental protection, and

conservation of natural resources.

There are three phases to the DWOP

process: conceptual, preliminary, and

final. Several MMS offices, including the

The operator of an oil and gas facility

benefits from the preproduction

inspection process. “The good part is

that, if changes need to be made, it’s

easier and cheaper to make them

onshore than offshore. Also, it’s good to

do the preproduction inspection in the

shipyard, because the people who

designed the equipment are usually

onsite to answer any equipment-related

questions,” states Dessauer.

The MMS inspectors work with

operators to protect the workers on the

offshore facilities and the environment

that surrounds them.
MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE MARCH/APRIL 2005 5

EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT

THE ROLE OF MMS

As with all production projects

in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM),

BP Exploration & Production,

Inc.’s (BP) Thunder Horse project

began with exploration. Before it

drilled the first well, BP submitted an

Exploration Plan (EP) to the Minerals

Management Service (MMS). The first

EP for Mississippi Canyon Blocks 776,

777, and 778 was approved in 1998. A

separate EP for Block 822 was

approved in 1999. The EP’s were

revised and eventually 12 more

exploratory wells were approved by

MMS.

The purpose of an EP is to help

MMS, in accordance with the Outer

Continental Shelf Lands Act, to

determine if any proposed activities will

cause harm to life, national security,

property, other mineral deposits (leased

or not), or the coastal, marine, or human

environment. In addition, MMS reviews

EP’s to check for compliance with

Federal laws and regulations (such as the

Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act,

Coastal Zone Management Act, and the

National Environmental Policy Act).

Finally, MMS ensures that the

District Offices Ensure Production Safety

Safety is a critical component of oil and gas production, especially in

offshore facilities. The Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) District

Office with jurisdiction in a particular platform’s location is in charge of

reviewing and approving production safety systems. Some of the documents

reviewed in this process include Facility Mechanical Flow Diagrams, Safety Flow

Diagrams, Facility Electrical Classification Diagrams, Safety Analysis and

Function Evaluation (SAFE) Charts, and Facility Safety Equipment Location

Diagrams. There are several Federal regulations and standards these documents

must comply with, and the District Office reviews all of these documents to

ensure compliance.

A sampling of the various Federal regulations and industry standards

reviewed against these documents by the District Office include

The District Offices of MMS play a vital role in ensuring safe drilling,

production, and living quarters by reviewing platform safety systems and

sharing these findings with producers.

Title 30 CFR 250 Subpart H

Title 33 CFR Subpart I

Title 33 CFR Subpart N

API RP 14C

API RP 14F

API RP 14FZ

API RP 14G

API RP 500

API RP 505

How are blocks named? 

The name associated with a specific

Block is based on a unique geological

feature located within that area, such

as a basin, canal, or canyon. All names

are approved by the U.S. Board of

Geographic Names. The MMS

Mapping and Boundary Branch

perform complex computations and

prepare various maps and diagrams of

the area in accordance with Federal

regulations. The number following the

individual area block name within the

area is based on these computations;

for example, Mississippi Canyon Area

Block 776 or MC 776.

subsea wells. Conservation, safety, and

environmental reviews are in each

DOCD. In addition to the regular safety,

conservation, and environmental reviews

given to every plan, MMS prepared a

comprehensive Environmental

Assessment of the activities proposed in

this DOCD, because it was the first

production facility in the area. This

included an assessment of the

environmental impacts of not only this

project but also future similar projects.

Exploration for oil and gas is as

exciting today as it was in the early

days. With MMS there every step of the

way, today’s oil and gas industry is

operating safer than ever for all human

and ocean life.

exploration will not unreasonably

interfere with other uses of the area

(such as fishing) or other oil and gas

operations, create hazardous or unsafe

conditions, create pollution, or disturb

any site, object, or structure of historical

or archaeological importance.

The Thunder Horse Development

Operations Coordination Document

(DOCD) to develop the reservoirs

discovered during exploration was filed

in October 2002 and approved by MMS

in March 2003. This approval included

installation of the platform, 10

development wells, and 17 remote and

An MMS inspector examines a console in the

control room of the Thunder Horse platform.
6 MMS OCEAN SCIENCE Science & Technology Journal

Thunder Horse Facts

• Thunder Horse is the largest semisubmersible floating production, drilling, and

quarters (PDQ) unit in the world.

• Location: Approximately 150 miles southeast of New Orleans

• Processing capability: Oil - 250,000 barrels of oil per day

Gas - 200 million cubic feet per day

• Size of main deck: 367 x 446 feet – bigger than a football field!

Thunder Horse facility at night. Photo courtesy of BP Exploration & Production.

THUNDER HORSE

RACES TO

PRODUCTION

Ask an oil producer how much

a large production facility in

the Gulf of Mexico (GOM)

would produce each day,

and you’re likely to get an

answer of about 100,000 barrels of oil per

day (bpd). That’s an estimate for a highproducing offshore platform. However, 

a new facility expected to begin production this year, Thunder Horse, is about to

change the definition of “large” in the oil

and gas industry. This monster facility is

projected to produce an incredible

250,000 bpd. By comparison, the entire

state of Wyoming only produced 144,000

bpd in 2003!

In 2003, of the total GOM production, about 60 percent of oil and 30

percent of natural gas produced were

from GOM deepwater. Only 10 years

ago, deepwater production was relatively

rare. Several major projects in the GOM

have a projected combined production

of 580,000 barrels of oil and 510 million

cubic feet of gas each day. One of those

projects is the Thunder Horse field.

The Thunder Horse field, about 150

miles from New Orleans, is an exciting

discovery for those in the oil and gas

industry. Found in 1999, the field is

located 6,000 feet below the ocean

surface and is the largest GOM discovery

so far. The field is actually two separate

reservoirs: Thunder Horse North (Mississippi Canyon 775, 776, 819, and 820)

and Thunder Horse South (Mississippi

Canyon 777, 778, 821, and 822).

BP Exploration & Production, Inc.

(BP) operates the project with

ExxonMobil Inc. as partner. Over 100

new and remarkable technological

innovations are part of the project

through a joint effort of BP and industry

suppliers. These new solutions were

developed to handle the special challenges associated with deepwater work.

This astonishing facility, the result of

a successful partnership between

industry and the Minerals Management

Service, is an innovative project that will

significantly increase our Nation’s supply

of domestically produced oil and gas for

many years to come. Thunder Horse is

truly one of the Titans of the deep.
7

Atlantis Facts

• Atlantis Field is about 130 miles

south of New Orleans in the Gulf of

Mexico.

• Operator is BP Exploration &

Production, Inc. with BHP Billiton

Petroleum Deepwater as partner.

• Atlantis field is located on the edge of

the Sigsbee Escarpment.

• Production should begin in the third

quarter of 2006 and should last about

15 years.

shallow water in the GOM will be over 

2 million barrels a day...a huge boost to

the domestic energy supply of the

Nation. 

The MMS works with industry to

make sure new facilities such as Atlantis

produce abundant energy for the Nation

from domestic sources while protecting

the environment and making sure

taxpayers get a fair price for Federal land

leases.

MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE MARCH/APRIL 2005

Record Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Production Projections

Atlantis floating production platform under construction in Korea. Photo and artist rendition courtesy of BP

Exploration & Production.

completed in 2006, it will 

be the largest, highest capacity,

deepwater pipeline system in the world.

The Minerals Management Service

(MMS) estimates that, by 2006, oil

production from both deepwater and

ATLANTIS – 

CITY 

ON THE RISE

A

nother Titan of the deep 

is Atlantis, one of the largest

deepwater gas discoveries 

made to date. BP Exploration & Production, Inc.

(BP) is the operator of this field along

with a partner, BHP Billiton Petroleum

Deepwater. This field is projected to go

into production in late 2006, with a

production life of approximately 15

years.

The field was discovered in 1998 and

is located about 130 miles from the

coastline of Louisiana in 6,500 feet of

water. The projected production capacity

for Atlantis is enormous: 150,000 barrels

of oil per day and 180 million cubic feet

of gas each day! 

A new deepwater innovation solves

the problem of how to get oil and gas

from platforms located far from the

nearest pipeline. Atlantis will be served

by a new transportation system designed

to carry the oil and gas to its destination.

When the system’s construction is
8 MMS OCEAN SCIENCE Science & Technology Journal

PEOPLE, ENVIRONMENT, AND PROPERTY

ENSURING THE SAFETY

Houston, Texas, is the most frequently

used CVA for floating production

projects in the GOM.

Lynnda Pekel, the ABS Project

Manager for Atlantis, emphasizes that

the society’s primary mission is safety:

“We care that things out there (in the

GOM) are safe. We are not employees of

the government or the oil company. We

stay with our own mission, which is the

safety of people, the environment, and

property. This goes hand in hand with

MMS’s own mission.”

The MMS requires that a CVA be

named for projects that use nontraditional technology. The CVA is paid

for by the company but reports to MMS.

Contracted by British Petroleum, the

operator of the Thunder Horse and

Atlantis fields, ABS provides MMS with a

status report at each step of the project.

According to Kent Dangtran, the

Many types of industries

use third-party

companies to assist in

achieving and

maintaining

compliance with existing industry

standards. For example, large companies

may use outside accounting firms to

audit and verify compliance with

accounting standards. In the oil and gas

industry, outside organizations may be

used to verify compliance with industry

and regulatory safety standards. The

Minerals Management Service’s (MMS)

structural safety program for offshore oil

and gas production platforms uses

Certified Verification Agents (CVA) for

this purpose.

A CVA is an organization that is not

allied with either industry or a

government agency. It is a third-party

organization that helps MMS and

industry in determining that structures in

the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) meet

appropriate safety standards.

A CVA organization is nominated by

the gas and oil lessee and approved by

the MMS Regional Supervisor, Office of

Field Operations. The operator of a

GOM production project chooses an

approved CVA to provide reports to

MMS. The engineers conducting the

review must be licensed Professional

Engineers (PE). Once a project is

complete and installed, the CVA’s work is

finished in that capacity. Other agencies,

such as the U.S. Coast Guard, may use

reports from the CVA. Though they may

not have regular involvement once a

project is complete, CVA’s may also help

MMS and operators in special situations

such as hurricanes.

The CVA for the Atlantis and Thunder

Horse projects is American Bureau of

Shipping (ABS). Founded in 1862 to

certify ship masters, it is now an

international classification society

establishing standards for the design,

construction, and operational

maintenance of ships and offshore

facilities. Other companies also do CVA

work; however, ABS, headquartered in

Thunder Horse Project Manager for ABS,

“There are three phases to each CVA

program: design, fabrication, and

installation. We get involved from the

beginning. We look at the piping, the

electrical system, structural stability, every

facet of the design and construction. We

write a CVA report at the end of each

phase back to MMS, describing what we

have done to verify structural adequacy

and conformance with the relevant

standard, and we recommend MMS

accept, reject, or accept (that phase of the

project) with noted conditions.”

Dangtran said that some phases, such

as the design and fabrication phases,

may overlap.

“We bring an international team

approach to the project to avoid

duplication and smooth the overall

development,” said Dangtran. Each

engineering design verification team

reviews the calculations and drawings in

a specific area, such as the topsides

structure. Once the design has been

approved, fabrication of the hull and

topsides takes place in shipyards. Both

Thunder Horse and Atlantis are

international projects, as their hulls

were/are being fabricated in Korea, with

topsides constructed in Morgan City,

Louisiana, and final assembly in Corpus

Christi, Texas. Pekel noted that ABS has

three separate teams of surveyors

reviewing work at the three different sites

during the fabrication phase, but overall

coordination is maintained by the

Project Manager.

The hull, the topsides, and the piles

(how the structure is anchored to the

seafloor) are the three separate sections

of the project to be reviewed. “What

happens on Atlantis is that each element

within the structure goes through those

three phases (design, fabrication,

installation). We’ve been working on it

since 2002 and the project won’t go

online and start producing oil and/or gas

until 2006. It’s very spread out. To make

sure we keep MMS informed, we file a

lot of intermediate reports with the

agency.”

The Thunder Horse Project Manager for ABS, Kent

Dangtran, discusses the project in a meeting.

...to verify compliance with

industry and regulatory

safety standards.
MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE MARCH/APRIL 2005 9

ABS will also have teams

inspecting the installation of

Thunder Horse and Atlantis. For

Thunder Horse and Atlantis, the

installation will take place in two

phases, the piles and the

platform itself. Dangtran said

that there is typically one team

for the platform and one team

for the piles. Each team reports

its findings to ABS, which in turn

files a collated report to MMS,

detailing progress and

accomplishments according to

the approved designs. At the end

of each phase, including

Lynnda Pekel, the Project Manager for

Atlantis, works in her office at ABS.

installation, the CVA reports to

MMS, recommending that the

agency accept, reject, or accept

the project with conditions.

CVA companies work toward

the same goal as MMS: to protect

the environment, people, and

property. The MMS is also

responsible for making sure that

taxpayers get a fair price for the

lease of government land and

ensure that the Nation is

supplied with energy in a timely

and safe fashion.

SECRETARY NORTON PARTICIPATES

THUNDER HORSE DEDICATION

incentives to

energy companies

to take the

financial risk of

exploring in

deepwater and

deep-shelf areas of

the GOM. These

incentives, which

take the form of

royalty relief,

ensure taxpayers a

fair return while

making it worth

the risk for

companies to pursue hard-to-reach

reserves.

The DOI expects the incentives to

boost peak oil production in the GOM

by 43 percent and natural gas

production by 13 percent over the next

decade.

“We estimate the deepwater regions

of the Gulf may contain over 56 billion

barrels of oil equivalent,” said Minerals

Management Service Director Johnnie

Burton. “Huge deepwater projects like

BP’s Thunder Horse and others are

expected to increase our Gulf production

to more than 2 million barrels per day

within the next two years. The Thunder

Horse project is contributing not only to

the Nation’s energy security but also to

its economy by providing thousands of

jobs,” she said.

Department of the Interior (DOI)

Secretary Gale Norton recently

joined British Petroleum officials

in dedicating the Thunder Horse

platform, which will be used to tap into

a huge reserve of oil and gas deep under

the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

The Thunder Horse platform is about

50 percent larger than the next largest

floating semisubmersible rig in the

world. It includes advanced technology

that will enable it to process 250,000

barrels of oil and 200 million cubic feet

of natural gas per day – enough energy

to provide daily energy needs for 6.5

million American homes. 

The energy used by the platform itself

will be produced from natural gas from

the field below. To maximize efficiency,

the platform will capture waste heat

through heat recovery units. This energy

will then be used in the production

process. 

Under the President’s National

Energy Plan, DOI has been providing

DOI Secretary Gale Norton participates in the

dedication of Thunder Horse, the world’s largest

offshore oil platform.
10 MMS OCEAN SCIENCE Science & Technology Journal

I

n 1933 a prototype was created for

the world’s first submersible oil

platform. This design, called

“Giliasso” after the patent holder and

inventor Louis Giliasso, was based on a

concept by G.E. McBride, who was

credited with envisioning the world’s

first submersible oil platform. The design

included barges as floating vessels that

carried a platform for equipment and a

rig or derrick. It was to be towed to the

drilling location and sunk, where it

would act as a foundation for an abovewater platform.

This new platform design was

revolutionary and the beginning of

many new exciting advances for the oil

and gas industry during that period.

However, the development of new ways

to drill for oil also presented new

challenges, such as how to house a crew

on a marsh and how to store and

transport the oil with no pipeline nearby. 

These challenges gave rise to a

support industry that still grows and

changes today, right along with the oil

and gas industry companies. Two

interesting areas of such growth are

fabrication yards and ports.

The largest producing offshore fixed

platform is Shell Offshore’s Bullwinkle,

at 1,615 feet tall. Compare it to the Sears

Tower, the largest building in North

America, at 1,450 feet. As offshore rigs 

get larger with the exploration of

deepwater, the fabrication yards must be

big enough to handle such massive

structures. Two of the largest yards are 

J. Ray McDermott’s Morgan City facility

at 287 acres, and Gulf Island Fabrication

at 250 acres, both located in Louisiana. 

Most fabrication yards specialize in

production of a particular type of

platform or component, such as living

quarters, decks, or modules. Only 12

yards along the Gulf coast can make

platforms for over 1,000 feet of water.

Almost all fabrication facilities are

interdependent, as few complete entire

projects in their own yard, but instead

rely on outsourcing. Traditionally, yards

have been located onshore with water

access, but some are locating offshore to

provide components nearer to the

platforms they serve, becoming what

might be viewed as a sort of industry

version of a convenience store.

While fabrication yards enjoy success

when the industry’s production booms,

they also feel the bust times. In an

attempt to prevent the loss of skilled

CREATING NEW OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

GROWING SUPPORT INDUSTRY

Above: Cable used for moorings.

Fabrication yards are private

businesses along the coast that build

components, such as jackets (the web of

metal under the water on a fixed

platform), platforms, and special areas

such as housing for work crews who go

on the platforms. As of 2001, there were

over 40 fabrication yards on the Gulf.

Taking a Look at Right-of-Way Pipelines

Before pipelines that carry petroleum products from a rig to dry land are

installed, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) evaluates the pipeline

structure and infrastructure through a detailed set of permits.

Pipelines requiring that right-of-ways be granted are called right-of-way

(ROW) pipelines. The ROW pipeline review process helps MMS ensure that the

pipelines are compliant with MMS regulations, the Outer Continental Shelf

Lands Act, and other Federal laws and regulations.

When reviewing the Thunder Horse ROW pipelines, MMS evaluated the

pipelines’ ability to withstand pressure; cathodic protection systems and

internal and external coating systems that are meant to protect the pipeline

from corrosion; safety flow schematics for safety devices on the pipelines; the

routes of the pipeline; any environmental impact of pipeline activities; the

applicant’s qualifications, filing fees, rentals, and financial security; and

modification and repair requests once the pipelines are in use.

The MMS helps the oil and gas industry by ensuring that pipelines are as

safe and efficient as possible, which ultimately improves the industry’s bottom

line and protects the environment.
MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE MARCH/APRIL 2005 11

labor when there is no oil rig work to be

done in yards, some yards are attempting

to diversify their products. 

Another group immediately affected

by the industry’s ups and downs are the

Nation’s ports. Because almost 44

percent of total waterborne commerce in

the U.S. is attributed to petroleum and

petroleum products, ports are vital to the

smooth flow of these products in and

out of the country. Of the two types of

ports (deep-draft seaports and inland

river and intracoastal waterway ports),

deep-draft seaports can accommodate

oceangoing vessels that serve offshore

platforms.

These ports are needed not only for

ships carrying petroleum products, but

also for support vessels such as desk

barges, drilling tenders, pipe carriers,

salvage tugs, supply vessels, well

stimulation vessels, and anchor-handling

tugs. Once a platform is operational,

continued support, such as food,

personnel, and maintenance equipment,

is required from the coast.

As in the fabrication industry, the

rapidly advancing technology and

changing needs of the oil and gas

industry are putting greater demands on

the Nation’s ports. First, as vessel sizes

increase, so does the need for deeper

channels. Second, the volume of trade

moving through ports is increasing.

Third, ports must consider the

environmental impact of expanding

their operations. Finally, funds must be

found to provide capital improvements

for these ports, most of which are run by

local or State government.

Other ripple effects include the need

for better infrastructure on land, such as

better and wider highways to avoid

Above: Port Fourchon, Louisiana.

bottlenecks when the product is

transported inland. Even public schools

are affected by the influx of workers to

port cities, straining the capacities of

local schools. Increased commerce

causes a need for increased

infrastructure, balanced by a need to

protect the environment from rapid

expansion.

The Minerals Management Service

leads the way in managing the fine

balance between facilitating the growth

of commerce for the Nation’s economic

health and protecting the environmental

health of the OCS (Outer Continental

Shelf). To learn more, see the MMS

report OCS-Related Infrastructure in the

Gulf of Mexico Fact Book at

http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/

whatsnew/techann/2004/2004-027.html.
MMS OCEAN SCIENCE

Minerals Management Service

Mail Stop 5431

1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard

New Orleans, LA 70123

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POSTAGE 

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ADDISON, IL

MMS – A Leader in 

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Supply

NEW WAVES Late-breaking News & Information

Piratic flycatcher from Mexico stops to rest

on an offshore platform. This is the fourth

known occurrence of this bird’s migration.

Study Offers Insight into Migratory Birds and Platforms

Every year during the spring and

fall, hundreds of millions of birds

migrate across the Gulf of Mexico

(GOM). These migrations have

evolved despite the absence of

natural islands that could serve as a

stopover site on the route of

migration. The installation of

artificial islands in the form of oil

and gas production platforms over

the past five decades has provided an

important aid for trans-Gulf

migration.

Recently, the Minerals

Management Service (MMS) funded

a project to study the spring and fall

migrations of these birds and the

influence of oil and gas platforms on

trans-Gulf migration. Over the course

of this three-year study, observers

lived on 13 platforms during the

spring and fall migrations. The study

addressed a series of questions,

including the following: Which

species are migrants? Are there

specific migration routes? When do

migrants use platforms for stopovers

and how does the timing of platform

use relate to seasonal and daily

timing and weather? Do migrants use

platforms in predictable ways?

The study found that platforms

appear to be a suitable stopover

habitat for most species, and most of

the migrants that stopped over on the

platforms benefited from their stay,

particularly in spring. The migrants

used the platforms in nonrandom

ways and the structures facilitated the

trans-Gulf migration by providing

“steppingstones” across the Gulf of

Mexico.

Read more about this study at

http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/

whatsnew/stories/BirdsonWing.html.

MMS 2005-009, Interactions Between

Migrating Birds and Offshore Oil and

Gas Platforms in the Northern Gulf of

Mexico.