Mid-Atlantic summary report

The first sale on the Mid-Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Lease Sale 40, Mid-Atlantic, was held in August 1976. The second Mid-Atlantic sale, Lease Sale 49, Mid-Atlantic, was held in February 1979. Exploratory drilling occurred from March 1978 through October 1981, but none of the 28 exploratory wells drilled produced commercial quantities of hydrocarbons. Lease Sale 59, Mid-Atlantic, was held in December 1981, and Shell began drilling operations on Block 587 (NJ 18-6) on August 2, 1983, in 6448 feet (1965 m) of water, a record-breaking depth. It is anticipated that three holes will be drilled during Shell's drilling program. Lease Sale RS-2, held in August 1982, resulted in the leasing of 18 additional deepwater blocks previously offered in Lease Sale 59, Mid-Atlantic. Mid-Atlantic Lease Offering (April 1983) was the first streamlined area wide lease offering on the July 1982 final 5-year OCS oil-and-gas leasing schedule. Industry interest was concentrated in the deeper waters, while little was expressed for the nearshore areas. The last Mid-Atlantic lease offering in the July 1982 final 5-year OCS leasing schedule will take place in June 1985. The Department of the Interior's most recent estimates of risked undiscovered recoverable resources in the Mid-Atlantic are 800more » million barrels of oil and 5.6 trillion cubic feet of gas in 0 to 656 feet water depth, and 2.3 billion barrels of oil and 8.6 trillion cubic feet of gas in 656 to 8202 feet water depth. These are resources that can be extracted economically with existing technology. Estimates of risked undiscovered resources for leased lands, which are specific to blocks that have been leased in the Mid-Atlantic, are 110 million barrels of oil and 2.2 trillion cubic feet of gas. 7 references, 3 figures, 3 tables.« less