Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)

The Pacific OCS area encompasses over 248 million acres, all of which are off limits for new oil and gas leasing.  The unavailable areas are estimated to contain over 10.5 billion barrels of oil and almost 18.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, more than half of which is located in known deposits in southern California.

The MMS currently manages 79 oil and gas leases, dating from 1967 to 1984, on about 400,000 acres offshore of southern California.  Of these leases, 43 are developed and producing leases and 36 are undeveloped leases.  The developed leases produce over 71,000 barrels of oil and about 1.37 million cubic feet of natural gas daily.  The 36 undeveloped leases are a result of directed suspensions due to litigation and are estimated to contain roughly 1 billion barrels of oil and 500 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

There are 23 platforms operating in the southern California portion of the Pacific OCS.  Of those, 22 are production platforms and one is a processing platform.  The platforms are connected to onshore and offshore facilities by 188 miles of pipeline.

A blowout during offshore drilling operations caused a large oil spill in 1969 off the coast near Santa Barbara.  The spill led directly and indirectly to the statutory bans, congressional moratoria, and presidential withdrawals on offshore leasing.

Additional Pacific OCS Resources

Planning Area Insert

OCS Statistics

Resource Reports

Platform Information

Lease Maps

Data Files on Leasing, Pipelines, Production, and Platforms

Original Lease Instruments

Decommissioning Costs Report

Oil and Gas Resources in the Pacific OCS (1999)

Pacific OCS FAQs

OCS Law Review

Pacific Cadastral Data