The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will livestream central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 247 at 9 a.m. CST on Mar. 22, 2017.
The 12th and final gulf sale under the Obama administration’s Outer Continental Shelf leasing program for 2012-2017 offers more than 48 million acres offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, encompassing all available unleased areas in the central planning area (CPA). It covers 9,118 blocks 3-230 miles offshore in 9-11,115 ft of water.
The previous 11 sales held in the current 5-year program netted more than $3 billion, BOEM says.
Activity in the last central gulf auction, Lease Sale 241 held in March 2016, was down markedly compared with the previous year’s auction, drawing 148 bids on 128 blocks from 30 companies, with apparent high bids totaling $156 million (OGJ Online, Mar. 23, 2016). Shell Offshore Inc. led all firms with apparent high bids totaling $24.9 million.
