BOEM lease sale to offer 21 million acres in Gulf of Mexico for oil, gas development
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will offer more than 21 million acres offshore Texas for oil and gas exploration and development in a lease sale that will include all available unleased areas in the Western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Planning Area, BOEM Acting Director Walter Cruickshank said. “As one of the most productive basins in the world, the Gulf of Mexico is a critical component of the nation’s domestic energy portfolio… This lease sale underscores our commitment to make millions of acres of federal waters available for safe and responsible exploration and development. The decision to move forward with this lease sale follows extensive environmental analysis, public input and consideration of the best scientific information available.”
Western GOM Lease Sale 238, to be held in New Orleans, La., on 20 August 2014, will be the sixth offshore sale under the administration’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017. This sale builds on the first five sales in the program, which have offered more than 60 million acres and netted nearly $2.3 billion.
Sale 238 will include approximately 4,026 blocks, covering roughly 21.6 million acres, located from nine to 250 miles offshore, in water depths ranging from 16 to more than 10,975 ft (5 to 3,346 m).
BOEM estimates the proposed lease sale could result in the production of 116 million to 200 million bbl of oil and 538 billion to 938 billion cu ft of natural gas.
BOEM will offer blocks located, or partially located, within the three statute mile US-Mexico Boundary Area, as well as blocks within the former Western Gap that lie within 1.4 nautical miles north of the Continental Shelf Boundary (1.4-nautical mile buffer) between the US and Mexico, subject to the terms of the US-Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreement.
As of July 2014, BOEM has administered more than 6,100 active oil and gas leases covering nearly 34 million OCS acres. In 2013, oil and gas leases on the OCS accounted for approximately 18% of domestic oil production and 5% of domestic natural gas production.
All terms and conditions for Western Sale 238 are detailed in the Final Notice of Sale information package. Click here for more information.
