Innovation #19

Innovative Achievements

Fifty Years of Gulf of Mexico
Paleontological Data Available on CD-ROM

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) is releasing 50 years of public paleontological data on CD-ROM. This data release coincides with the 50th anniversary of offshore drilling and the 15th anniversary year for the establishment of the MMS.

“During our anniversary year, MMS will continue to focus on customer service and identify innovative ways to meet their needs,” said MMS Director Cynthia Quarterman. “This CD will provide better service to our customers in the natural gas and oil industry as a tool for future exploration and development. Our customers in the academic community can enhance their research capabilities with access to over 14,000 geoscientific reports.”

The CD includes all paleontological data for the Gulf of Mexico from January 1, 1947, through March 1, 1997. Over fourteen thousand reports are in a PDF-formatted 40 MB file that contains reports prepared by both MMS and industry scientists.

The paleontological information is a valuable tool used in exploration and development of hydrocarbons on Federal lands. In addition to identifying the age of oil and natural gas deposits and correlation of strata between wells, these data are used to evaluate the environment in which the sediments were deposited, and thus indicate the potential for hydrocarbon reservoir and source rocks.

MMS will benefit from this innovation by significantly reducing the number of man-hours used each year to process more than a thousand customer requests for paleontological data. The format of the CD follows the Code of Federal Regulations for release of data.

Copies of the CD-ROM can be ordered after June 1 by calling 1-800-200-GULF, or sending a fax to (504) 736-2620. The cost is $10.00.

MMS is the Federal agency that manages the Nation’s natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf, and collects, accounts for, and disburses about $4 billion in revenues each year from Federal offshore mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on Federal and Indian lands.

-MMS-

MMS Internet website address: http://www.mms.gov
24 hour Fax-on-Demand Service:(202) 219-1703