Offshore staff
NEW ORLEANS – The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) plans to offer about 78.8 million acres in a region-wide Gulf of Mexico lease sale scheduled for November 2020.
Lease Sale 256, scheduled to be livestreamed from New Orleans, will be the seventh offshore sale under the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.
Lease Sale 256 will include about 14,755 unleased blocks – all the available unleased areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Fiscal terms include a 12.5% royalty rate for leases in less than 200 m (656 ft) of water, and a royalty rate of 18.75% for all other leases issued pursuant to the sale, in recognition of current hydrocarbon price conditions and the marginal nature of remaining Gulf of Mexico shallow-water resources.
Lease Sale 256 was originally scheduled for August, but due to the need to conduct additional analysis to consider recent changes in the oil and gas markets, which were due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, the sale was moved to the fall.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bids are only being accepted by mail.
07/17/2020
