Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper announced the bureau 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 Planning Area.
Sale 246 will include approximately 4000 blocks, covering roughly 21.8 million acres, located from 9-250mi offshore, in water depths ranging from 16-10,975ft (5-3346m). BOEM estimates the proposed lease sale could result in the production of 116-200MMbo and 538-938Bcf of natural gas.
Proposed Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 246, scheduled to take place in New Orleans in August 2015, will be the eighth offshore sale under the US's current 2012-2017 (five-year program). This sale builds on six sales, already held in the current five-year program, that have netted nearly US$2.4 billion.
The seventh Gulf of Mexico sale, Central Planning Area Sale 235, will be held on 18 March 2015.
“As one of the most productive basins in the world, the Gulf of Mexico remains a critical component of the Administration’s domestic energy strategy to create jobs, foster economic opportunities, and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil,” Hopper said. “The exploration and development of the Gulf of Mexico’s vital energy resources will continue to help power our nation and drive our economy.”