Louisiana's omnipresent offshore operations
Beneath the water's surface, within 5 million inland acres and some 20 million acres off shore, lie vast storehouses of untapped reserves that feed coastal Louisiana's 2 most important industries: petroleum and seafood. Louisiana's commercial fish production is valued at more than $56 million per yr. In the midst of these prodigious fishing grounds are abundant oil, gas, and sulfur reserves. In the 1960's alone, oil production off the coast of Louisiana and Texas soared over 300% while natural gas sky-rocketed 525%. More than 14,000 wells have been drilled in Louisiana's state-owned waters, while there are 8,000 additional wells off shore in federal waters. Not surprisingly, the petroleum industry is the largest, single capital investor in Louisiana today. Sun began exploration operations in Louisiana in 1937, and 3 yr later drilled its first well at Belle Isle, situated atop an underground salt dome whose base lies thousands of feet below the surface. Today, one of the company's largest gas-processing plants is at Belle Isle in the hub of a 16-sq-mile oil and gas field. Sun has oil and gas leases throughout the state covering 427,000 acres, including 82,000 acres which produce some 34,000 bbl of crude oil and 500 MMcfd of natural gas.
- OSTI ID:
- 5323577
- Journal Information:
- Our Sun; (United States), Vol. 35:3
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
03 NATURAL GAS
LOUISIANA
NATURAL GAS FIELDS
OIL FIELDS
NATURAL GAS
PRODUCTION
PETROLEUM
SEAFOOD
SULFUR
RECOVERY
TEXAS
COASTAL REGIONS
DEPTH
DRILLING
EXPLORATION
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
INVESTMENT
LAND LEASING
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
NATURAL GAS WELLS
OFFSHORE OPERATIONS
OIL WELLS
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
PRICES
PROCESSING
RESERVES
SALT DEPOSITS
STATE GOVERNMENT
UNDERGROUND
UNDERWATER OPERATIONS
VALUES
DIMENSIONS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FEDERAL REGION VI
FISH PRODUCTS
FLUIDS
FOOD
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
INDUSTRY
LEASING
LEVELS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
NONMETALS
NORTH AMERICA
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCES
USA
WELLS
020300* - Petroleum- Drilling & Production
030300 - Natural Gas- Drilling
Production
& Processing