GoM federal lease sale: March 20

The U.S. Department of Interior (DoI) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced it will offer 78M acres for a region-wide lease sale slated for March 20. The sale would include all available unleased areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Lease Sale 252, scheduled to be live-streamed from New Orleans, will be the fourth offshore sale under the 2017-22 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. Lease Sale 252 will include 14,696 unleased blocks, located from three-to-231 miles offshore in the Gulf’s central, eastern, and western planning areas, and to depths ranging from nine feet to more than 11,110 feet. The following areas are excluded from the lease sale: Blocks subject to a congressional moratorium established by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006; blocks adjacent to or beyond the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone; and whole blocks and partial blocks within the current boundaries of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. The Gulf’s outer continental shelf covers about 160M acres that is estimated to contain about 48B barrels of undiscovered/recoverable oil, and 141T cubic feet of undiscovered/recoverable gas. Revenues received from the leases are directed to the U.S. Treasury; the Gulf Coast states of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas; the Land and Water Conservation Fund; and Historic Preservation Fund. All terms and conditions for Gulf of Mexico Region-wide Sale 252 are detailed in the Final Notice of Sale information package. (Source: Dept. of Interior 02/13/19)