US to Offer 48 Mln Acres in Next Gulf Lease Sale
The U.S. Department of Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will conduct a lease sale on Wednesday, March 22, 2017, offering 48 million acres in federal waters offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama for oil and gas exploration and development.
Lease Sale 247, which includes all unleased and non-protected areas in the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area, will be livestreamed to the public via the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management website.
Lease Sale 247, the 12th offshore sale under the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (Five Year Program), includes 9,118 tracts located from three to 230 miles offshore, in water depths ranging from nine to more than 11,115 feet (3 to 3,400 meters). The first 11 sales in the Five Year Program offered nearly 73 million acres for development and garnered more than $3 billion in bid revenues.
When bidding closed, 24 companies had submitted 189 bids on 163 tracts for Central Sale 247.
BOEM estimates the lease sale could result in the production of 460 to 890 million barrels of oil, and 1.9 trillion cubic feet to 3.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. BOEM’s economic terms and conditions are the same as previous sales and include a range of incentives to encourage diligent development and ensure a fair return to taxpayers.
