The development of the offshore petroleum industry is a remarkable story of inventiveness, entrepreneurship, hard work, and risk-taking that turned Louisiana's relatively isolated coastal communities into significant contributors to the U.S. and global economies. This industry emerged as local residents and returning World War II veterans applied skills, technologies, and can-do attitudes to overcome the many challenges of producing oil from below the ocean floor. Offshore workers initially came from Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, but soon people from throughout the United States were attracted to the Gulf Coast. This industry, born in the Louisiana marshes, has grown to have a key place in the modern world. Yet, it is little known, understood, or documented, and its dynamic economic role is virtually invisible.

The development of the offshore petroleum industry is a remarkable story of inventiveness, entrepreneurship, hard work, and risk-taking that turned Louisiana's relatively isolated coastal communities into significant contributors to the U.S. and global economies. This industry emerged as local residents and returning World War II veterans applied skills, technologies, and can-do attitudes to overcome the many challenges of producing oil from below the ocean floor. Offshore workers initially came from Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, but soon people from throughout the United States were attracted to the Gulf Coast. This industry, born in the Louisiana marshes, has grown to have a key place in the modern world. Yet, it is little known, understood, or documented, and its dynamic economic role is virtually invisible.

The purpose of this project is to study, document and explain the history and evolution of the offshore oil and gas industry in southern Louisiana in an objective and comprehensive way. The geographic extent and complexity of the industry, the tremendous number of petroleum and associated service companies, and the vast array of impacts has required the identification and recruitment of hundreds of individuals with direct experience with the industry and its effects. University researchers have spent thousands of hours with people responsible for the offshore oil and gas industry in southern Louisiana. They recorded interviews, collected written documents, and obtained digital copies of photographs and video from the early days.

The development of the offshore petroleum industry is a remarkable story of inventiveness, entrepreneurship, hard work, and risk-taking that turned Louisiana's relatively isolated coastal communities into significant contributors to the United States and global economies. This industry emerged as local residents and returning World War II veterans applied skills, technologies, and can-do attitudes to overcome the many challenges of producing oil from below the ocean floor. Offshore workers initially came from Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, but soon people from throughout the United States were attracted to the Gulf Coast. This industry, born in the Louisiana marshes, has grown to have a key place in the modern world. Yet, it is little known, understood, or documented, and its dynamic economic role is virtually invisible.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is a agency within the U.S. Department of Interior. BOEM has four sections that cover the United States' waters: Alaska OCS Region, Pacific OCS Region, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region and the Atlantic OCS Region. The Gulf of Mexico OCS Region is responsible for almost 160 million acres of lands off the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Currently, more than 31 million acres are leased for gas and oil development, and six million are actually producing oil and natural gas. The Gulf of Mexico Region is in charge of addressing the Environment, Leasing and Plans, and Resource Evaluation. The publish a variety of documents with topics such as: Marine Biology, Natural Gas, Oil Spills, Transportation, Chemical Products, etc. This is one of those publications.

I wish to thank the researchers who brought the Gulf of Mexico Offshore Petroleum Oral History Project to fruition and, particularly, I wish to thank the men and women who shared their testimonies with the researchers, Minerals Management Service (MMS), and the world. The dedication of researchers and participants alike made the History Project into the success that it is. The research team asked me to write this preface because of my work in making this an MMS study. While I am proud of the part that I played, my role was to state the obvious. Everywhere my job took me, people said that the history of offshore oil needed to be known, that its story of inventiveness and entrepreneurship is ageless but its pioneers were aging, and that it would be lost if nothing were done. My one virtue was to be sufficiently naive or hopeful to say "let's try."

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is a agency within the U.S. Department of Interior. BOEM has four sections that cover the United States' waters: Alaska OCS Region, Pacific OCS Region, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region and the Atlantic OCS Region. The Gulf of Mexico OCS Region is responsible for almost 160 million acres of lands off the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Currently, more than 31 million acres are leased for gas and oil development, and six million are actually producing oil and natural gas. The Gulf of Mexico Region is in charge of addressing the Environment, Leasing and Plans, and Resource Evaluation. The publish a variety of documents with topics such as: Marine Biology, Natural Gas, Oil Spills, Transportation, Chemical Products, etc. This is one of those publications.

Scott Heywood discovered oil in Jennings on September 21, 1901, starting a new industry for Louisiana. From the heart of Acadiana, oil fever spread north to Caddo and Pine Island, south to Hackberry and Cameron, east to Barataria and Lafourche, and into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil industry created a worker class in Louisiana that had not previously existed. Towns, complete with schools, churches, and grocery stores, developed in oil fields; in fact, cabins with clothes hanging on the line to dry were adjacent to derricks and open oil pits. Today, families proudly recount the number of their generations that have worked in the "oil patch," and workers continue to contribute to a current crude oil production of nearly 200,000 barrels per day. The legacy of Louisiana's first oil fields is evident in towns like Jennings, Evangeline, Oil City, Morgan City, Lake Charles, and Cameron, and the history of that once nascent industry is a permanent part of the culture of Louisiana.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is a agency within the U.S. Department of Interior. BOEM has four sections that cover the United States' waters: Alaska OCS Region, Pacific OCS Region, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region and the Atlantic OCS Region. The Gulf of Mexico OCS Region is responsible for almost 160 million acres of lands off the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Currently, more than 31 million acres are leased for gas and oil development, and six million are actually producing oil and natural gas. The Gulf of Mexico Region is in charge of addressing the Environment, Leasing and Plans, and Resource Evaluation. The publish a variety of documents with topics such as: Marine Biology, Natural Gas, Oil Spills, Transportation, Chemical Products, etc. This is one of those publications.