The Mississippi Canyon is an undersea canyon, part of the Mississippi
Submarine Valley in the North-central Gulf of Mexico, south of Louisiana.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey GLORIA Mapping Program, it is the
dominant feature of the north-central Gulf of Mexico. According to GCAGS
Transactions, it has an average width of 8 kilometres, and a length of 120
kilometres. The US Minerals Management Service applies the name Mississippi
Canyon to numbered federal oil and gas lease blocks over a large offshore area
centered on, but mostly outside, the submarine canyon.
Oil and gas exploration and production According to "Deepwater Gulf of Mexico
2004: America's Expanding Frontier", a report issued by the Minerals Management
Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, of the ten deepwater discoveries in water
depths greater than 7,000 ft, three were in the Mississippi Canyon area:
Aconcagua project, area/block MC305, 7,379 ft deep; and Camden Hills project,
MC348, 7,530 ft deep, both discovered in 1999; and Blind Faith project, MC696,
7,116 ft deep, discovered in 2001. In a separate section of the same report,
note is made of acreage in the Thunder Horse project, MC778, acquired in 1988.
Other projects noted for Mississippi Canyon include Thunder Horse
areas/blocks MC775-778 and MC819-822, listed as completed grid PEA by BP.
An MMS list of 80 development systems of productive deepwater Gulf of Mexico
projects from 1979 to 2003 includes 29 projects in the Mississippi Canyon area:
Five of the top 20 deepwater Gulf of Mexico procuction blocks for 2000-01
were in the Mississippi Canyon, including the top 2: Project Mars, 2,933
feet deep, 137 million barrels of oil equivalent; project Ursa, 3,800 feet
deep, 93 million barrels of BOE; project Mensa, 5,280 feet, 27 million barrels of
BOE; Cognac, 1,023 feet, 23 million barrels of BOE; Crosby, 4,259 feet, 18
million barrels of BOE, all managed by Shell.
Deepwater Horizon explosion On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon
drilling rig, located in the MMS Mississippi Canyon block 252, which is
about 40 miles off the Louisiana coast, suffered a catastrophic explosion; it
sank a day-and-a-half later. Although initial reports indicated that
relatively little oil had leaked, by April 27 it was stated by BP that
approximately 5,000 barrels of oil per day were issuing from the wellhead,
1-mile below the surface on the ocean floor. The resulting oil slick quickly
expanded to cover hundreds of square miles of ocean surface, posing a threat
to marine life and adjacent coastal wetlands. On June 10, the Flow Rate
Group from the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center
reported that they have determined that the estimated flow rate from the out of
control well head has been 20,000 barrels to 40,000 barrels per day.
See also Offshore oil and gas in the US Gulf of
Mexico References
External links Gulf of Mexico GLORIA geology
interpretation Page Contact Information: O'Malley, J., usgs.gov
Formation of the Mississippi Canyon, GCAGS Transactions, Volume 32 Coleman,
J. M., D. B. Prior. Wonders of ocean life counted in massive
census