Offshore staff
NEW ORLEANS – Pursuant to section 50264(b) of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Pub. L No. 117-169), Congress has directed BOEM to award leases to the highest valid bidders in Lease Sale 257, which was held on November 17, 2021.
Consistent with this direction, BOEM has accepted 307 of the highest valid bids, totaling $189,888,271.
A total of 33 companies participated in the lease sale, generating $191,688,984 in high bids for 308 tracts covering 1.7 million acres in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. One bid was rejected for not providing the public with fair market value.
Revenues received from offshore oil and gas leases (including high bids, rental payments and royalty payments) are directed to the U.S. Treasury, certain Gulf Coast states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama) and local governments, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the Historic Preservation Fund.
BOEM says that leases resulting from this sale include stipulations to protect biologically sensitive resources, mitigate potential adverse effects on protected species, and avoid potential ocean user conflicts.
Lease Sale 257 was the eighth offshore sale held under the 2017-2022 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. All terms and conditions for the Sale are detailed in the Final Notice of Sale information package, which is available at http://www.boem.gov/Sale-257.
09.14.2022
