Offshore staff
WASHINGTON, D.C. –The consolidated Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 216/222 is scheduled for June 20, 2012 in New Orleans.
The proposed lease sale includes approximately 7,250 unleased blocks covering nearly 38 million acres in the Central Planning Area offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The blocks are from three to 230 mi offshore, in water depths ranging from nine to more than 11,115 feet (3 to 3,400 m).
The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management estimates the area contains close to 31 Bbbl of oil and 134 tcf of natural gas that are currently undiscovered and technically recoverable.
The terms of sale will reflect recent administrative changes. These include escalating rental rates to encourage prompt exploration and development of leases, as well as time under the lease if the operator demonstrates a commitment to exploration by drilling a well during the base period. The durational terms of leases are graduated by water depth. BOEM also recently increased the minimum bid for deepwater to $100 per acre, up from $37.50.
Proposed terms and conditions will be finalized at least 30 days prior to the Sale. To see the current Proposed Notice of Sale information packageclick here.
Lease Sale 216/222 is the last sale scheduled in the 2007 – 2012 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Natural Gas Leasing Program. DOI is finalizing the next Five-Year Program for 2012-2017. The Proposed 2012-2017 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program schedules 12 lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico.
01/26/2012
