WASHINGTON – As part of what they call President Obama’s “all-of-the-above
energy strategy to continue to expand safe and responsible domestic energy
production,” Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau announced this week that Central
Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 227 will offer 38.6 million acres offshore Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama for oil and gas exploration and development. The lease
sale could lead to the production of nearly one billion barrels of oil and
almost 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to a press release.
The sale, which will be held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome
in New Orleans on March 20, 2013, includes all unleased areas in the Central
Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. It will be the second sale under the
Administration’s new Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for
2012-2017, and the first of five Central Gulf of Mexico lease sales that will
be held under the program.
“The Obama Administration is fully committed to developing
our domestic energy resources to create jobs, foster economic opportunities,
and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil,” Secretary Salazar said in a
statement. “Exploration and development of the Gulf of Mexico’s vital energy
resources will continue to help power our nation and drive our economy.”
Announced in June 2012, the Five Year Program makes offshore
areas that contain more than 75 percent of the technically recoverable offshore
oil and gas resources available for exploration and development. This is
consistent with President Obama’s commitment, a release said, to continue to
expand domestic energy production and reduce America’s dependence on foreign
oil.
Lease Sale 227 encompasses 7,299 blocks located from three
to about 230 miles offshore, in water depths ranging from nine to more than
11,115 feet (three to 3,400 meters). BOEM estimates the lease sale could result
in the production of 0.46 billion to 0.89 billion barrels of oil, and 1.9
trillion cubic feet to 3.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Terms and conditions for the sale are available at: http://www.boem.gov/sale-227.
The Notice of Availability of the Final Notice of Sale can be viewed today in
the Federal Register at: https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection.
Copies can also be requested from the Gulf of Mexico Region’s Public
Information Office at 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 70123, or at
800-200-GULF (4853).