MMS Gulf of Mexico Region Names
Chief of Staff and Two Deputy Regional Supervisors for Field Operations

Chris Oynes, Regional Director, Gulf of Mexico Region (GOMR), Minerals Management Service (MMS), announces the names of three employees who will fill new management positions in the regional office in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Jim Grant was named Chief of Staff, Office of the Regional Director.  He began his career with MMS in 1984 in Corpus Christi District office and has served as Chief of the Technical Assessment and Operations Support Section; Chief of the Production, Commingling and Rate Control Section; and Chief of the Plans, Platforms and Pipelines Section.  In his new position, Mr. Grant will serve as immediate advisor to the Regional Director on major programmatic, policy, and budget issues as well as organizational issues.  He will work with the Regional Director in planning, organizing, and overseeing program initiatives.  Mr. Grant is a native of Russellville, Arkansas; he attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology.

Joe Gordon has been appointed Deputy Regional Supervisor, Field Operations, for Regional Operations.  His responsibilities include managing the technical functions of the regional activities within Field Operations.  The Regional Office of Field Operations evaluates and approves operator proposals to install and modify platforms and pipelines on OCS leases, evaluates new technology to be used in the Gulf of Mexico, reviews and approves exploration and development plans, and administers the GOM accident investigation and civil penalty programs.

Mr. Gordon graduated from the University of Missouri – Rolla with a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering in 1987.  Upon graduation, he worked in production operations for Murphy Oil U.S.A. in the east Texas area.  He joined MMS in 1988 as a staff engineer in the Technical Assessment Unit in the Gulf of Mexico Region.  He has served as the Lafayette District Drilling Engineer, the Lafayette District Manager, and, most recently, Chief of the Office of Safety Management.

Lars Herbst has been appointed to the position of Deputy Regional Supervisor for District Operations in the Office of Field Operations in the Gulf of Mexico Region.  His responsibilities include oversight of the five Gulf of Mexico District Offices located in New Orleans, Houma, Lafayette, and Lake Charles in Louisiana, and Lake Jackson, Texas. The primary functions of the District Offices include permitting and inspection activities related to offshore operations, including drilling, workover, completion, well abandonment, and production operations. 

Mr. Herbst is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering.  He began his career with MMS in 1983, after working for Schlumberger in the well testing group.  At MMS, he started as a staff engineer in Technical Assessment Unit in the Gulf of Mexico Region.  In 1990, Mr. Herbst was named Drilling Engineer in the New Orleans District, and in 1995, became the New Orleans District Manager.

The Minerals Management Service is the federal agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the nation’s oil, natural gas, and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf in Federal offshore waters.  The agency also collects, accounts for, and disburses mineral revenues from Federal and American Indian lands.  MMS disbursed more than $8 billion in FY 2003 and more than $135 billion since the agency was created in 1982.  Nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund annually for the acquisition and development of state and Federal park and recreation lands.