First post-Macondo GOM lease sale sees 28% increase in bids

Preliminary data show that the first offshore Gulf of Mexico lease sale since the Macondo oil spill has seen a 28% increase in bids compared with the last comparable event in August 2009, US regulators announced.
On December 14, Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will open Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 218 in New Orleans. The sale, held by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), has attracted 241 bids submitted by 20 companies on 191 tracts offshore Texas, compared to 189 bids submitted by 27 companies on 162 tracts during the previous Western Gulf Lease sale in August 2009.

Blocks are located in federal waters from nine to more than 250 miles offshore, in water depths of about 16 feet  to more than 10,975 feet. BOEM estimates that this sale could result in production of approximately 222 to 423 million barrels of oil and 1.49 to 2.65 Tcf of natural gas.

Sale 218 incorporates a number of lease terms to ensure fair return, provide incentives for diligent development, and help reduce the amount of leased acreage that is warehoused and left unexplored.