US BOEM to hold third Gulf of Mexico lease sale in August
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold the third offshore oil and gas lease sale under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).
The proposed lease sale, known as Lease Sale Big Beautiful Gulf 3, or BBG3, is scheduled to take place on Aug. 12, 2026.
BBG3 will offer leases with a 12.5% royalty rate covering about 15,066 unleased blocks over 80.4 million acres on the US Outer Continental Shelf in the US Gulf. The blocks are 3 to 231 miles offshore, span water depths of of 9 ft to more than 11,100 ft.
The Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf spans about 160 million acres and is estimated to contain 29.59 billion bbl of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 54.84 tcf of natural gas.
Certain areas will be excluded from the sale, including blocks subject to the Sep. 8, 2020, presidential withdrawal; blocks adjacent to or beyond the US Exclusive Economic Zone in the Eastern Gap; and blocks within the boundaries of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
The Proposed Notice of Sale (PNOS) will be published in the Federal Register on Feb. 20, 2026, initiating a 60-day comment period for affected state governors and local governments. Following the review of governor input, BOEM will publish a final notice of sale in the Federal Register at least 30 days prior to the scheduled lease sale date on Aug. 12, 2026.
More information, including the PNOS package and a detailed map of the proposed lease sale area, is available on BOEM’s website.