History of the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry and its Effects on Louisiana

 

Introduction

 

Text Box:   Beginning in 2001, the U.S. Minerals Management Service sponsored a study to examine the historical evolution of the offshore oil and gas industry and its effects on Louisiana’s coastal culture, economy, landscape, and society. Researchers from universities in Louisiana, Texas, and Arizona came together to trace the development from land and marsh to state waters and across the Outer Continental Shelf. As one part of this project, researchers from the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology at the University of Arizona partnered with community researchers to gather oral histories from workers, family members, community leaders, and others whose lives were shaped by the offshore oil and gas industry in southern Louisiana. Interviewees talked about how this industry grew from its fledgling beginning in the 1930’s through the frenzied activity of the 1970’s and beyond. The interviews ranged from very general conversations about life in southern Louisiana during this period to very specific discussions of particular aspects of the oil and gas industry.

 

Each interview provides a unique look at the offshore oil and gas industry and its impacts on workers, their families, and their communities. Information about the study and the interviews is available in three documents, History of the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry in Southern Louisiana, Interim Report:  Volume I, Papers on the Evolving Offshore Industry (OCS Study MMS 2004-049); Volume II, Bayou Lafourche—An Oral History of the Development of the Oil and Gas Industry (OCS Study MMS 2004-050); Volume III, Samples of Interviews and Ethnographic Prefaces (OCS Study MMS 2004-051).. These documents will be available through the Minerals Management Service. The tapes and discs onto which these interviews were recorded and the transcripts of these interviews will be available in the archives of the Louisiana State University, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of Houston, and Nicholls State University.

 

 

The Offshore Oil and Gas History Project

 

 

 

 

This project is funded by the

U.S. Department of the Interior

Minerals Management Service

Gulf of Mexico OCS Region

http://www.mms.gov/gomr

 

 

Questions or comments refer to

daustin@u.arizona.edu