Wednesday's Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 238 attracted $110 million in high bids for 81 tracts covering about 434,000 acres on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf offshore Texas. A total of 14 offshore energy companies submitted 93 bids.
The sale offered all unleased and non-protected areas in the Western Gulf of Mexico planning area, including 4,026 tracts located from nine to more than 250 miles off the coast, in depths ranging from 16' to more than 10,975' (five to 3,346 m.). BOEM estimates the lease sale could result in the production of 116 million to 200 million bbls. of oil and 538 billion to 938 billion cu. ft. of natural gas.
The 167 of the blocks available for lease were located or partially located within three statute miles of the maritime and continental shelf boundary with Mexico. Leases issued on these blocks are subject to the terms of the U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbon Reservoirs Agreement and 24 of those blocks received bids.
Lease Sale 238, which offered 21.6 million acres, builds on five previous sales held under the Obama administration’s Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (Five Year Program). These five lease sales have offered more than 60 million acres for development, and garnered $2.3 billion in bid revenues.
“This sale underscores the president’s commitment to create jobs and home-grown energy through the safe and responsible exploration and development of offshore energy resources,” said Interior Deputy Secretary Mike Connor. “The Gulf of Mexico has been and will continue to be a cornerstone of our domestic energy portfolio, with vital energy resources that spur economic opportunities and further reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”
Statistics on Lease Sale 238 are available at http://www.boem.gov/Sale-238/ or at www.boem.gov.
