Offshore staff
NEW ORLEANS –At today’s Central Gulf of Mexico lease sale, 52 companies submitted 407 bids on 320 tracts with $1,214,675,536 in high bids.
Lease Sale 227, conducted by Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), included 7,299 blocks, covering about 38.6 million acres, located from three to about 230 nautical miles offshore, in water depths ranging from nine to more than 11,115 ft (three to 3,400 m). BOEM estimates the areas available for sale could result in the production of up to 890 MMbbl of oil, and 3.9 tcf of natural gas.
Each high bid on a tract will now be evaluated by BOEM to ensure fair market value before a lease is awarded.
The top five bidding companies by dollar were as follows:
1. Exxon Mobil Corp. – 7 high bids totalling $220,254,446
2. Shell Offshore Inc. – 38 high bids totalling $139,925,720
3. BHP Billiton Petroleum (Deepwater) – 24 high bids totalling $107,160,240
4. Venari Offshore LLC – 15 high bids totalling $86,796,442
5. Plains Exploration & Production Co. – 11 high bids totalling $92,575,000.
3/20/13
