The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced a final notice of sale for its “Big Beautiful Gulf 2” (BBG2) lease offering, the second of 30 Gulf of Mexico lease sales required by Congress in its 2025 appropriations bill.
“Lease Sale BBG2 is a key step in advancing BOEM’s offshore oil and gas program in the Gulf of America,” BOEM Acting Director Matt Giacona said in the Feb. 4 announcement. “Following the strong industry response to Lease Sale BBG1, this proposed sale aims to ensure continued investment in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf and support American energy independence.”
BOEM will hold the live bid March 11 at 9 a.m. Central Time, visible on a public livestream at https://www.boem.gov/oil-gas-energy/leasing/big-beautiful-gulf-2-bbg2-oil-gas-lease-sale.
The lease sale supports the Trump administrationExecutive Order 14154, “Unleashing American Energy, which directs federal agencies to accelerate offshore oil and gas development to lower energy costs, reinforce national energy security and enhance America’s global competitiveness,” according to BOEM.
The offering includes some 15,066 unleased blocks, covering about 80.4 million acres on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf, 3 to 231 miles offshore and in depths ranging from 9’ to more than 11,100’.
The Gulf OCS includes 160 million acres, estimated to contain 29.59 bbl. of as yet undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 54.84 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The sale still excludes blocks in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off Florida, subjected to the September 2020 extension of a drilling moratorium during the first Trump administration. Other exclusions include blocks adjacent to or beyond the U.S. EEZ in the Eastern Gap; blocks within the boundaries of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary; any block which received a bid in Lease Sale BBG1.
More information, including the FNOS package and a detailed map of the proposed lease sale area, is available at https://www.boem.gov/oil-gas-energy/leasing/big-beautiful-gulf-2-bbg2-oil-gas-lease-sale.
