Management Applicability of Contemporary Deep-Sea Ecology and Reevaluation of Gulf of Mexico Studies; OCS Study MMS 2001-095

Estimated Oil and Gas Reserves
Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf, December 31, 1999
OCS MMS 2002-007

by T. Gerald Crawford, Grant L. Burgess, Clark J. Kinler, Michael T. Prendergast, Katherine M. Ross

As of December 31, 1999, about 2.98 billion barrels of petroleum liquids (both oil and natural gas condensate) and about 23.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas were estimated to exist as “remaining proved reserves” in 815 proved active fields of the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf. This report, Estimated Oil and Gas Reserves Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf, December 31, 1999, indicates a decrease of about 0.38 billion barrels of liquid (oil and gas condensate) and a decrease of 6.4 trillion cubic feet of gas in remaining proved reserves as compared with the December 31, 1998, estimates. New proved field discoveries account for an increase of 0.15 billion barrels of liquid and 1.3 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Unproved reserves as of December 31, 1999, have been estimated to be 2.40 billion barrels of oil and 9.7 trillion cubic feet of gas. These reserves include unproved reserves from proved and unproved active fields. There are 65 unproved active fields, 5 of which are not studied. This makes a total of 880 active fields located in Federal waters.

Proved reserves are estimated to have been 14.38 billion barrels of oil and 161.4 trillion cubic feet of gas from 1,003 proved fields under the Federal submerged lands in the Gulf of Mexico. Included in this number are 188 fields that are depleted and abandoned; not included are the 65 unproved active fields. As of December 31, 1999, cumulative production from these 1,003 fields was 11.40 billion barrels of oil and 137.7 trillion cubic feet of gas.

This report, just released, along with digital data, is available free via the MMS Internet homepage at http://www.gomr.mms.gov/. Paper copies are available from MMS at a cost of $3.00 and diskettes containing digital data at a cost of $1.00. A CD-ROM containing this report, digital data, field production plots and field production data is also available for a cost of $15.00. Checks should be made payable to the Minerals Management Service. For information on purchasing this report contact:

Minerals Management Service
Gulf of Mexico OCS Region
Attn: Public Information Unit (MS 5034)
1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard
New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394
(504) 736-2519 or 1-800-200-GULF
Fax (504) 736-2620

The next report, Estimated Oil and Gas Reserves Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf, December 31, 2000 is scheduled to be available in June 2002.

MMS 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 Indian leases. These revenues totaled nearly $10 billion in 2001 and more than $119 billion since the agency was created in 1982. Annually, nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition and development of state and federal park and recreation lands.