A total of 22 companies have participated in the lease sale round and submitted $108.5m in total bids for 71 tracts
US BOEM’s Lease Sale 254 included 14,594 unleased blocks in the federal waters of Gulf of Mexico. (Credit: Pixabay/D Thory)
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), an agency within the US Department of the Interior (DOI), has announced the region-wide Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 254 generated more than $93m in high bids.
A total of 22 companies have participated in the lease sale round and submitted $108.5m in total bids for 71 tracts covering 397,285 acres in Federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Lease Sale 254 included 14,594 unleased blocks located from three to 231 miles offshore, in the Gulf’s Western, Central and Eastern Planning Areas in water depths ranging from 9 to more than 11,115ft.
The lease sale, however, excluded blocks that are subject to the congressional moratorium established by the Gulf of Mexico Security Act of 2006; blocks that are adjacent to or beyond the US Exclusive Economic Zone; and whole blocks and partial blocks within the boundaries of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
Lease sale was sixth under the 2017-2022 National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program
The latest lease sale was the sixth offshore sale held under the 2017-2022 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, which includes 10 region-wide leases with two lease sales to be undertaken annually for the Gulf.
US BOEM Gulf of Mexico Office regional director Mike Celata said: “The development of oil and gas assets in the Gulf of Mexico is a highlight of the Outer Continental Shelf.
“The continued presence of large deposits of hydrocarbons in the region will draw the interest of industry for decades to come.”
Spread in an area of about 160 million acres, the OCS is estimated to hold about 48 billion barrels of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and 141 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered technically recoverable natural gas.