By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 27 -- The Minerals Management Service received $6,595,753 for 10 leases it awarded in its Mar. 16 Sale 197 in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.
MMS had offered 124 tracts for bidding, but nine companies bid on only 12 of them. The parcels are located more than 100 miles off Alabama in water more than 1,600 m deep.
Bids totaled more than $6.97 million on the 12 tracts, each of which received one bid. "However, one company declined its two awarded leases—De Soto Canyon Block 448 and De Soto Canyon Block 492," MMS said.
A consortium of Helis Oil & Gas Co. LLC, Red Willow Offshore LLC, and Houston Energy LP were the highest bidder at $2,037,379 for Lloyd Ridge Block 272.
The second highest bidders, Spinnaker Exploration Co, LLC and Dominion Exploration & Production Inc., submitted a $1,566,000 bid on De Soto Canyon Block 797. Petrobras America Inc., the third highest bidder, submitted a $552,384 bid for Lloyd Ridge Block 92.
