MMS has released a fact book that describes the existing OCS oil and gas-related infrastructure in the GOM and how it supports offshore activities. OCS-Related Infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico Fact Book (OCS Study MMS 2004-027) incorporates data collected in 2000 and 2001 and examines historic data to identify past and future trends in the construction and use and retirement of OCS-related infrastructure.

Although oil and gas exploration and production have occurred for over 100 years in parts of the states that rim the Gulf of Mexico, offshore activity in coastal waters and on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) has occurred only during the last 50 years. However, during this period, a network of support facilities, ports, pipelines, and processing facilities has developed to support offshore production.

“Obtaining this information was of vital importance to MMS because of its statutory responsibilities,” said MMS Regional Director Chris Oynes. “For example, MMS must produce lease-sale environmental impact statements (EIS’s) that depict existing, OCS-related infrastructure and project its growth and trends. MMS must also make permitting decisions that consider existing, future, and past infrastructure, as well as guide and monitor long-range planning and development of OCS activities.”

Eleven major infrastructure categories were identified and described in this study. These include platform fabrication yards, port facilities, shipyards and shipbuilding yards, support and transport facilities, waste management facilities, pipelines, pipe coating yards, natural gas processing facilities, natural gas storage facilities, refineries, and petrochemical facilities.

The Fact Book discusses each of these critical infrastructure areas and its relationship with offshore oil and gas activities. Each chapter examines the infrastructure in question, discusses the industry characteristics associated with the infrastructure under examination, the salient regulations associated with the infrastructure, and the current trends and outlook for infrastructure development in the Gulf.

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.