The Minerals Management Service (MMS) on Thursday issued guidance to clarify how to prepare exploration plans for federal offshore oil and gas properties in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

Producers have to submit proposed GOM exploration, development and production activities, and once the required documents are received, MMS sends the plans to state and federal agencies for regulatory review.

Updated guidance for preparing Exploration Plans (EPs) and Development Operations Coordination Documents (DOCDs) clarifies how to submit the documents and also streamlines what has to be filed by specific area, according to MMS. Included in the guidance are the following clarifications:

The guidance “provides details on all the required information that lessees and operators must provide, and furnishes format examples, thereby reducing the need for additional plan filings or costly delays,” said Chris Oynes, the MMS GOM regional director. The “minor changes,” he said, were based on comments received as suggestions from state agencies as well as oil and gas companies.

The notice, NTL No. 2003-G17, has an effective date of Aug. 27, 2003, and supersedes the earlier NTL No. 2002-G08, which was issued in August 2002. For more information, visit www.mms.gov.

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