Offshore staff
NEW ORLEANS –The Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 216/222 drew $1.7 billion in high bids out of a total of $2.6 billion for all bids. Fifty-six operators submitted 593 bids on 454 tracts covering 2.4 million acres of the 39 million acres total offered.
The highest bid on a tract was $157,111,000 by Statoil Gulf of Mexico LLC for Mississippi Canyon block 718. Shell submitted the highest total amount in bonus bids, $406,594,560 on 24 tracts.
Lease sale terms for the bid have escalating rental rates and shorter duration for those in shallow water designed to “encourage faster exploration and development”, said the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
BOEM expects to finalize the list of tract winners in about three months.
While the number of blocks in less than 200 m (656 ft) water depth receiving bids was 193, a total of 146 bids were received for water depths exceeding 1,600 m (5,250 ft) and 75 bids were for blocks in 800 m to 1,600 m (2,625 ft) to 5,250 ft). The tract with the deepest water that attracted a bid was at 3,062 m (10,046 ft).
The top companies based on the number high bids were Shell Offshore Inc. with 24 high bids; Statoil Gulf of Mexico LLC with 26 high bids;, BP Exploration & Production Inc., 43; Chevron USA Inc., 29; Exxon Mobile Corp., 22; Apache Deepwater LLC, 29; LLOG Exploration Offshore LLC, 8; Stone Energy Offshore LLC, 26; Noble Energy Inc., 6; and ConocoPhillips Co., 24 high bids.
The Top 10 single highest bids were:
· Statoil Gulf of Mexico LLC, $157,111,000, Mississippi Canyon 718
· BP Exploration & Production Inc., $110,364,812, Keathley Canyon 745
· Shell Offshore Inc., $66,061,315, Mississippi Canyon 768
· Shell Offshore Inc., $61,461,315, Garden Banks 962
· Statoil Gulf of Mexico LLC, $61,400,007, Keathley Canyon 384
· Shell Offshore Inc., $60,061,315, Atwater Valley 244
· Chevron USA Inc., $57,821,221, Mississippi Canyon 607
· Chevron USA Inc., $51,231,129, Mississippi Canyon 162
· Shell Offshore Inc., $46,061,315, Mississippi Canyon 943
· Shell Offshore Inc., $45,060,315, Atwater Valley 159.
6/21/2012
