ABSTRACT: Exploration and Development in Louisiana's Wetlands

BERRY, W. L., Louisiana Land & Exploration Company, New Orleans, LA

Hernando DeSoto discovered oil in Louisiana in the 1540s, but Indians had been using it in medicines for centuries. The first commercially successful discovery of oil in the coastal zone occurred in 1926 at Sweet Lake field, Cameron Parish. Since then, oil and gas activities in the wetlands have grown to play a major role in Louisiana's petroleum industry. Fifty-eight percent of the state's total oil and 47% of the gas have been produced from this part of the state and adjacent waters.

While not the case in the early days for a number of reasons, exploration and development of these vital energy resources can and have been conducted in an environmentally sensitive manner for decades--from seismic surveys through pipeline installations and subsequent production operations. As a major landowner (lessor) with holdings of over 600,000 acres of coastal wetlands in Louisiana and as a lessee, the Louisiana Land and Exploration Company (LL&E) has been a leader in this regard. Since the 1950s LL&E has actively practiced wetlands conservation and required all contractors and lessees to take measures to preserve Louisiana's precious coastal wetlands when operating on company property. These include oil and gas leases, geophysical permits, canal and pipeline permits, et . Details of these programs are discussed in the paper.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91012©1992 AAPG Annual Meeting, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 22-25, 1992 (2009)