By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Feb. 19 -- The US Minerals Management Service issued a final notice for central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 182, scheduled for Mar. 20 in New Orleans. The sale will offer 4,447 unleased blocks covering 23.4 million acres.
Offered blocks are 3-210 miles offshore in water depths of 4-3,425 ft.
The final notice includes a number of incentives targeting deep-pay and deepwater oil and natural gas production, MMS said (OGJ Online, Nov. 21, 2001). One such measure affords the suspension of royalties for the first 20 bcf of gas production from a well drilled 15,000 ft or deeper below sea level.
The shallow-water, deep gas initiative, which does not apply to oil production, is designed to provide incentive for bolstering US natural gas production during 2003-07. "This initiative, if adopted and implemented for several offshore lease sales, could contribute additional gas production... of 250-600 bcf" during 2003-07, MMS said.
