Content:
   Melinda Mayes

Pagemaster:
   Marcia Oliver

Incidents Associated with Oil & Gas Operations

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Incident Data 1995- 1996

The following is a compilation of incidents that occurred on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and were reported to the Minerals Management Service (MMS) for the years 1995 and 1996. This report lists the incidents separately by Region and then by type. (Note: There are no sections for the Atlantic and Alaska Regions in this report because no incidents occurred there during the 1995-1996 reporting period.) After the listing of the individual incidents, we have included a new section that summarizes the information graphically. For the purpose of this report, incident is defined as any event classified as a loss of well control, collision, explosion, fatality, fire, injury, pipeline release, or spill greater than 50 barrels.

Data in this report have been compiled from the Technical Information Management System (TIMS) database for the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico OCS Regions. It was cross-checked by performing multiple analyses and by checking paper records on file in MMS's headquarters office in Herndon, Va. TIMS is a large database recently created by MMS, which contains data gathered from many MMS sources for both internal and public use. In addition to containing information on OCS incidents, TIMS also includes data on items such as: platforms, number and type of wellbores, seismic analysis, leasing data, production rates, and royalty  management.

As of 1995, all OCS incidents reported to MMS are entered into the TIMS database (older data are still maintained in other MMS databases and as paper copies). One of the major concerns with the incident component of TIMS is data quality. With the recent increase in operations in the Gulf of Mexico, both MMS and industry are placing increased emphasis on operator performance and safety. With this increased attention to performance, the quality of the incident data in TIMS takes on additional importance. As both MMS and industry rely more and more on incident data and data analysis as a component of performance measurement, the potential impact of the incident information contained in TIMS will also increase.

In this regard, MMS has made every effort to ensure that data taken from TIMS and contained in this report are as accurate as possible. However, we remind users of this report that, as with any live database, MMS continues to update and amend the data as new information is obtained. The MMS welcomes any suggestions or corrections regarding this report in general or concerning specific data contained in the report.

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Last Updated:  01/14/04, 02:11 PM