The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced today that it will offer more than 21 million acres offshore Texas for oil and gas exploration and development in a lease sale that will include all available unleased areas in the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area.
Proposed Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 238, scheduled to take place in New Orleans in August, will be the sixth offshore sale under the administration’s Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (Five Year Program). This sale builds on the first five sales in the current Five Year Program, which have offered more than 60 million acres and netted nearly $2.3 billion for U.S. taxpayers.
Sale 238 will include approximately 3,992 blocks, covering roughly 21.4 million acres, located from nine to 250 miles offshore, in water depths ranging from 16 to more than 10,975' (5 to 3,346 m). BOEM plans to offer blocks located, or partially located, within the three-statute-mile U.S. - Mexico Boundary Area subject to the terms of the U.S. - Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreement. BOEM estimates the proposed lease sale could result in the production of 116 to 200 million bbls. of oil and 538 to 938 billion cu. ft. of natural gas.
The proposed terms of this sale include conditions to ensure both orderly resource development and protection of the human, marine and coastal environments. These include stipulations to protect biologically sensitive resources, mitigate potential adverse effects on protected species and avoid potential conflicts associated with oil and gas development in the region.
BOEM’s proposed economic terms include the same range of incentives to encourage diligent development and ensure a fair return to taxpayers as used in previous sales.
The terms and conditions outlined for Sale 238 in the Proposed Notice of Sale are not final. Different terms and conditions may be employed in the Final Notice of Sale which will be published at least 30 days before the sale. All terms and conditions for Western Sale 238 are detailed in the Proposed Notice of Sale information package, which is available at: http://www.boem.gov/Sale-238/. CD’s and copies of the maps may be requested from the Gulf of Mexico Region’s Public Information Unit at 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 70123, or at 800-200-GULF (4853).
The Notice of Availability of the Proposed Notice of Sale is available today for inspection in the Federal Register at: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/public-inspection/index.html.
