She declined to say whether BOEM was surprised by the level of interest given crude oil prices in the $60/bbl range or if the sale bodes well for lease sales in the newly opened areas offshore Alaska and the West Coast, noting that the bureau, a division of the US Interior Department, needs to fully analyze the results.
Lease sale high bids
BP Exploration and Production Inc., Woodside Energy (Deepwater) Inc., Murphy Exploration & Production Co.– USA, and Beacon Offshore Energy Exploration LLC were the sale’s big spenders, as apparent winners with $60 million, $38 million, $33 million, and $27 million in leases, respectively.
Chevron submitted the sale’s single highest bid of $18.5 million for Keathley Canyon block 25, prevailing over two other bidders. This was one of eight tracts receiving three bids; 22 other blocks received two bids.
Keathley Canyon, which lies in the ultradeep waters of the northern Gulf offshore the Texas-Louisiana shelf, is home to Lucius, Tiber, and Kaskida fields that feature deepwater pipelines, like the Keathley Canyon Connector. Chevron Corp. and other oil majors are active in the area.
Woodside and Repsol OCS LLC offered the two next-highest bids: $15.2 million for Walker Ridge 443 and $12.2 million for the adjacent Walker Ridge 444. Those tracks received two and three bids, respectively. Walker Ridge, about 150-280 km (90-170 miles) south-southwest of the Louisiana coast, features large projects like Shenandoah and Big Foot in ultradeep waters of 1,700-3,000 m. The companies also teamed up to win a $4.2-million bid for Walker Ridge 488.
The area saw many of the highest-priced bids, including by BP Equinor USA E&P Inc., Talos Energy Offshore, Murphy, and Chevron, with winning bids from $1.1 million to $7 million.
Chevron, Shell Offshore Inc., and Beacon were among the most active bidders in Green Canyon area in the central Gulf, about 100 miles offshore Louisiana. The area features oil fields Atlantis and Caesar Tonga. While majors won the most bids in Green Canyon, Beacon made some of the largest winning bids in the area, with several $1 million-plus bids, including $11.8 million for Green Canyon 845 and $5.3 million for Green Canyon 345. bp, Equinor, Anadarko US Offshore LLC, and Talos also bid aggressively in the Green Canyon area, all with bids over $1 million.
BP was a big player in the Garden Banks area, 70-125 miles off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, winning 15 blocks and paying over $1 million for six. Murphy dominated bidding in the Alaminos Canyon region, 200 miles southeast of the Texas Coast, winning six of the seven blocks receiving bids in the sale.
Mississippi Canyon, a deepwater area 40-160 miles southeast of New Orleans, also saw strong interest, receiving 23 bids, with five over $1 million.
"The door has reopened to the Gulf of America,” said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association. “After 2 long years without lease sales Gulf of America Lease Sale Big Beautiful Gulf 1 is a milestone for America’s energy future.”
Milito added that a “predictable, steady cadence of lease sales” gives companies the certainty they need to make the capital investments to explore, develop, and produce responsibly.”
