Central Gulf of Mexico Sale Nets $159.1 Million

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) announced the completion of the two-phase bid evaluation process for Lease Sale 172. This sale, held March 17, 1999, received 272 bids on 207 tracts offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Of the 207 high bids received, MMS rejected 16 high bids totaling $12.7 million as insufficient for fair market value. Two of the tracts are located on the shelf and 14 tracts are located in deepwater. As a result, MMS awarded $159.1 million in high bids. Of the 67 companies submitting bids, the top companies ranked by number of winning bids on Sale 172 are: Company Tracts Sonat Exploration GOM Inc. 22 Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corporation 14 Vastar Resources, Inc 14 Spinnaker Exploration Company, L.L.C. 13 Murphy Exploration & Production Company 12 Samedan Oil Corporation 12 BHP Petroleum (Deepwater) Inc. 10 Amerada Hess Corporation 9 CNG Producing Company 9 Callon Petroleum Operating Company 8 Elf Exploration, Inc. 8