WATCHING WASHINGTON MMS 5 YEAR LEASE PLAN

With Patrick Crow The U.S. government's latest 5 year Outer Continental Shelf leasing plan charts a conservative approach for offshore exploration. Late last week Minerals Management Service released a draft plan calling for as many as 23 sales in 12 areas during 1992-97. The current plan called for as many as 39 sales, some of them tentative. But only a few of those have been held (OGJ, Jan. 8, 1990, p. 14). Acreage offered under the new program is only a third of that included in the

Feb. 25, 1991

3 min read

The U.S. government's latest 5 year Outer Continental Shelf leasing plan charts a conservative approach for offshore exploration.

Late last week Minerals Management Service released a draft plan calling for as many as 23 sales in 12 areas during 1992-97.

The current plan called for as many as 39 sales, some of them tentative. But only a few of those have been held (OGJ, Jan. 8, 1990, p. 14).

Acreage offered under the new program is only a third of that included in the 1987 program and a sixth of the acreage in all OCS planning regions.

Barry Williamson, MMS director, said the draft plan will emphasize natural gas exploration. He said although it offers much less acreage, it will focus on the most promising offshore structures.

AREAS OMITTED

The plan omits sales off Washington/Oregon, Northern and Central California, the North Atlantic, and southern Florida-all areas President Bush placed off limits in a decision last June.

Off Alaska, two sales would be considered for the Beaufort Sea (1 993 and 1996) and two for the Chukchi Sea (1 994 and 1997). MMS would consider holding a 1994 Cook Inlet sale and a 1995 sale in the Yakutat area of the Gulf of Alaska.

Two sales combining parts of the Mid and South Atlantic planning areas would be considered, one in 1994 and one in 1997. For each sale, 1,000 blocks would be considered initially but then narrowed down to just 250 blocks.

MMS would consider leasing 87 blocks in the Santa Maria basin and the Santa Barbara Channel off southern California but not before 1996.

Annual sales would be held in the central and western Gulf of Mexico and 1994 and 1997 sales in the eastern Gulf. MMS would not restrict the acreage offered in the central and western Gulf sales-the entire planning areas would be opened to bidding.

The program includes a stricter offshore area evaluation and decision process. MMS said the procedure will ensure data is adequate for decision making and "is more selective by including areas with prospects for natural gas and oil discoveries while avoiding areas where, on balance, the risks of development are too great."

MORE RESPONSIVE PROGRAM

MMS also said the process will be ,"more responsive to the views of potentially affected parties and better adapted to resolving conflicts among competing points of view."

The agency said, "Evaluation and management of OCS natural gas and oil resources will be more regionally tailored ... better reflecting each OCS region's environmental features and responding to the view expressed by state and local governments and the public. To this end, the program will provide new and enhanced opportunities for concerned individuals, organizations, and agencies to participate in the decision making process."

Offshore operators may be pessimistic about a leasing program that offers them so much less opportunity to explore. But MMS is gambling that a more conservative program may prove to be more reliable and will result in more exploration in the long term.