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Abstract
Although it has been regulated under federal jurisdiction, deepwater development continues to provide significant benefits to Louisiana. Drilling with land-type rigs installed atop barges that could be flooded and then re-floated began in the early 1930s in such areas where locals likened physical composition to either thin mud or thick water. The state of Louisiana had claimed jurisdiction over all offshore lands 27 miles seaward from the low-tide shoreline. By 1951, continued squabbling among coastal states and the federal government over ownership of offshore areas resulted in an unofficial 3-year moratorium on lease sales as lawsuits resulted in still more lawsuits. The federal-state leasing interruption indirectly benefited the budding offshore industry, since it allowed drilling technology to catch up with producers' aspirations to test productivity in deeper water farther offshore. Today, floaters are far larger than their earlier counterparts, with some even equipped with twin-derrick, dual-well centers for drilling and completing separate wells simultaneously.