1.3 SCHEDULING OF OFFSHORE DEVELOPMENT 



Development of offshore oil and gas is a long and complex process. 

 This section discusses development scheduling from two standpoints: 

 first, the six major sequential phases of the development process in 

 which industry and government are both involved, and second, the time 

 constraints placed on industry in meeting the most significant scheduling 

 deadlines. 



The ease with which offshore oil and gas fields have been discovered 

 has been found to be related to the degree of geologic knowledge of the 

 area involved. More specifically, the knowledge acquired in developing 

 coastal land hydrocarbon research has accelerated the rate of offshore 

 discovery. More than 80 percent of offshore fields are believed to be 

 either offshore extensions of existing onshore or land-based oil pools, 

 or to have had offshore geology similar to that of the onshore producing 

 area [6]. Certainly prior geologic knowledge speeds the pace of offshore 

 oil and gas field development, although other factors are significant, 

 including technical capability, physical environment, government policies 

 and availability of investment capital. 



1.3.1 Geologic Indications 



An offshore extension of a producing onshore field takes on the 

 average about 4.4 years to discover, while other offshore areas require 

 approximately fifty percent more time for discovery. Application of our pres- 

 ent knowledge to the time frame required for discovery and exploitation 

 of the frontier areas of the United States appears to indicate the 

 following: 



1. Excluding environmental constraints, there is 

 strong likelihood that certain Alaskan OCS 

 fields (e.g.. Cook Inlet and Beaufort Sea) 

 can be developed in a relatively short time 

 since these areas represent a continuation of 

 onshore fields and geologic conditions. 



2. In other Alaskan areas, a number of other 

 variables, including the lack of knowledge 

 of geologic and climatic conditions, could 

 retard development. 



3. However, there are no oil fields on the 

 Atlantic coast and the thick geologic 

 sequence of the offshore is not duplicated 

 onshore; hence, the time frame required for 



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