U.S. Minerals Management Service has issued notice for central Gulf of Mexico offshore lease Sale 166 planned for next March.
The sale will offer 5,040 blocks covering 27.06 million acres 3-220 miles off Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in water depths up to more than 3,200 m.
It is the second central gulf sale in which blocks receiving bids in water depths of 200 m or more are eligible for consideration under the Deep Water Royalty Relief Act.
The first, Sale 157, held last April, set records for the number of bids received and the number of blocks leased. Of the total bids in that sale, 442 were for blocks in 400-800 m of water.
Sale 166, the 54th in the central gulf, will include 3,949 such deepwater blocks.
In a procedural change, MMS will require bidders to provide, prior to award of a lease, a certification that federal debarment procedures do not exclude them from participation.
The sale excludes blocks within 15 miles of the shoreline of Baldwin County, Ala. Some tracts on the southern edge of the sale area may be subject to a treaty agreement with Mexico.
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