OCS Offshore Prospect Names, Blocks & Owners
What is a Prospect Name?
Oil companies routinely assign code names to offshore prospects early in the exploration effort. This practice helps ensure secrecy during the confidential pre-sale phase, and later provides convenient names for casual reference rather than the often similar-sounding official lease names denoted by, for example, the Minerals Management Service in the case of federal waters in the USA. Names in a given year or area might follow a theme such as beverages (e.g., Cognac), heavenly bodies (e.g., Mars), or even cartoon characters (e.g., Bullwinkle), but usually have no geological or geographical significance to the prospect itself.
File layout:
| Lease | The number assigned to a lease by the regulatory agency have jurisdiction over mineral activity in the territory where the lease is located. |
|---|---|
| Area/Block | The Area Code and designated OCS Block Number of the well at the surface location. |
| Water Depth | The average vertical distance from mean sea level to the sea floor for a block. (Measured in feet) |
| Operator Name | Company Name of the qualified company who owns all or a part of the given lease |
| Lease Status | Identifies the development stage of the lease as assigned by the Minerals Management Service's Office of Leasing and Environment. |
| Status Date | YYYYMMDD - The date that the development stage of a lease becomes operative. Notes: This is any notes mentioning the source we obtained for the Prospect Name |