MMS has been conducting helicopter fly-overs to investigate reports of oil spills/sheens and said that, so far, there are no reports of oil impacting the shoreline or affecting birds and wildlife from releases in the Gulf of Mexico federal waters.
Production from the Gulf of Mexico accounts for 25% of the oil and 15% of the natural gas produced in the US. As of June 2008, daily production estimates for the Gulf of Mexico were 1.3 million bbl of oil and 7.0 billion cu ft of gas. Since that time, gas production from the Independence Hub facility increased and in August 2008 gas production from the Gulf was estimated at 7.4 billion cu ft of gas per day.
As of August 2008, there were more than 3,800 production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
| Number of Destroyed Platforms as of 9/17/08 | Classified by Daily Oil Production Rates |
| 44 | Less than 1,000 barrels per day |
| 5 | 1,000 to 5,000 barrels per day |
| 0 | Greater than 5,000 barrels per day |
