By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, July 19 -- The US Minerals Management Service has awarded the National Ports and Waterways Institute at the University of New Orleans a contract to study the effects of offshore activity on three Louisiana ports.
MMS said the study would analyze the logistics of the offshore oil and gas industry's supply and fabrication system in the Gulf of Mexico to develop a method of measuring activity related to Outer Continental Shelf drilling.
It said, "Ports and port-associated support facilities are critical staging areas for OCS oil and gas related activities. In recent years, the supply network supporting the offshore oil and gas industry has expanded greatly in size, complexity, and sophistication."
The institute will examine operations at Port Fourchon, a service base port; Port of Iberia, a fabrication port; and Port of Morgan City, both a service base and a fabrication port. It will define the transportation network that connects the ports to inland supply and fabrication systems.
"This will provide knowledge of the backward linkages of the offshore industry from platforms to the suppliers, hence, insight into the spatial distribution of economic effects of the oil and gas industry on various sectors of the economy," MMS said.
The agency noted that the National Environmental Policy Act requires it to document onshore effects of the OCS program. It said the study would provide the basis for modeling the effects of offshore activity at other ports.
MMS said the institute has helped the three ports develop master plans or market assessments. The study will continue through Dec. 31, 2002.