By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Mar. 31 -- Outer Continental Shelf Lease Sale 195 attracted strong bidding for blocks in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska.
"The Beaufort Sea contains the best near-term potential for offshore petroleum reserves on the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf," said US Minerals Management Service Alaska Regional Director John Goll.
Companies submitted bids totaling $46,735,081 for 127 blocks covering 618,751 acres. For the first time ever in a Beaufort Sea sale, MMS said, each block drew a single bid.
The highest bid was $12,220,173, submitted by Shell Offshore Inc. for Block 6708.
MMS offered 1,794 whole and partial blocks encompassing 9.4 million acres in 25-3,000 ft of water from the Canadian border on the east to Barrow, home of the Inupiat people, on the west.
Leases impose seven stipulations aimed at controlling effects on native people and the environment. The stipulations include requirements for protection of biological resources and spectacled and Steller's eiders, bowhead whale monitoring, use of pipelines rather than tankers, and booming for fuel transfers (OGJ Online, Nov. 1, 2004).
