History of the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry in Southern Louisiana
Interim Report

OCS Study MMS 2004-049 – 051

Volume I: Papers on the Evolving Offshore Industry
Volume II: Bayou Lafourche – An Oral History of the
Development of the Oil and Gas Industry
Volume III: Samples of Interviews and Ethnographic Preferences

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, announces the availability of a new study report, History of the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry in Southern Louisiana, Interim Report; Volume I: Papers on the Evolving Offshore Industry, Volume II: Bayou Lafourche – An Oral History of the Development of the Oil and Gas Industry, and Volume III: Samples of Interviews and Ethnographic Preferences.

The history of the offshore oil and gas industry is not well documented and the effects the industry has had on communities and families are known even less. The individuals who pioneered this industry are in their golden years and many are passing away. Going with them is the institutional knowledge of the creation of this industry. This is the first report of an MMS oral history project intended to provide an objective and comprehensive evaluation of the oil and gas industry through published works, documents, oral histories, and life stories. Its purpose is to aid MMS in understanding the consequences of the evolving industry on coastal communities and the economy.

Thousands of hours were spent by university researchers recording interviews, collecting written documents, and scanning photographs for digital images from the early days. These collections are being transcribed and organized for use by regulators, historians, scholars, industry analysts, and community officials. This three-volume interim report provides a glimpse of information to be received in more detail upon receipt of the final report, with topics ranging from hurricanes, technology and strategy of petroleum exploration in coastal and offshore Gulf of Mexico, salt domes, seismic exploration, history of State and Federal leasing in southern and offshore Louisiana, commercial diving, and oral histories as told by those who worked in the industry.

This report is available only in compact disc format. The disc is available from the Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, at a charge of $15.00 by referencing OCS Study MMS 2004-049 – 051. The report may be ordered through the Minerals Management Service’s on-line ordering system at http://www.gomr.mms.gov/WebStore/front.asp. You will be able to obtain this report also from the National Technical Information Service in the near future. Here are the addresses. You may also inspect copies at selected Federal Depository Libraries.