Oil And Gas Lease Sale News

A Biden administration auction of Gulf of Mexico drilling rights raised $382 million on Wednesday as oil companies claimed offshore acreage for what is set to be the last time until 2025.The auction total was the highest of any federal offshore oil and gas lease sale since 2015, according to a Reuters tally.Shell, Hess, Anadarko, BP, Chevron, Repsol and Equinor were among the 26 companies that participated in the sale.Anadarko had the auction's highest bid of more than $25 million for a block in the deepwater Mississippi Canyon area, according to an online broadcast of the sale by the U.S.

The U.S. Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said on Tuesday it will postpone its next sale of oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico.The agency said it will not hold Lease Sale 261 on September 27, 2023, as originally planned as a result of last week's ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ordering an expansion of acreage being offered after BOEM earlier reduced the area in an effort to protect an endangered whale species."The order allows time for a more orderly lease sale process…

An oil and gas industry trade group, the state of Louisiana and Chevron on Thursday sued the Biden administration over its decision to withdraw acreage from an upcoming oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico to protect an endangered whale.The suit is the latest dispute between the oil and gas industry and the administration of President Joe Biden over leasing federal lands and waters for energy development.Biden paused federal drilling auctions shortly after taking office in 2021 as part of his climate change agenda…

Exxon Mobil Corp on Wednesday bid for offshore blocks to store carbon dioxide underground during a government oil and gas lease sale in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, while rivals Chevron Corp and BP Plc targeted areas for production.The largest U.S. oil company has been selling oil production blocks in the U.S. Gulf since 2018 as it shifts to more lucrative fields elsewhere. And yet, it bought dozens of blocks in the past couple of years in the same basin with a new purpose: burying carbon dioxide instead of pumping oil.The government oil license auction generated $264 million in high bids…

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said Friday that it would hold an oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico in March 2023.The Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 259 will offer approximately 13,600 blocks on 73.3 million acres in the Western, Central, and Eastern Planning Areas on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. Lease Sale 259 was one of three offshore lease sales initially cancelled by the Biden Administration in May 2022. The subsequent Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) mandated that BOEM hold Lease Sale 259 no later than March 31…

The Biden administration on Wednesday said it would scrap three planned sales of offshore oil and gas leases in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.In a statement, the Department of Interior said it was not moving forward with an auction for drilling rights in the Cook Inlet off the coast of Alaska "due to lack of industry interest in leasing in the area."It also said two sales in the Gulf of Mexico would be canceled due to "conflicting court rulings."The three sales were the last to be held under a 5-year plan for leasing in federal waters on the outer continental shelf.

A federal judge invalidated the results of an oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday saying the Biden administration failed to properly account for the auction's climate change impact.The decision has cast uncertainty over the future of the U.S. federal offshore drilling program, which has been a big source of public revenue for decades but also drawn the ire of activists concerned about its impact on the environment and contribution to global warming.The Gulf of Mexico accounts for 15% of existing U.S.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold an oil and gas lease sale for the Gulf of Mexico on November 17, complying with a U.S. District Court order.To remind, the Biden administration had paused all oil and gas leasing activities on federal lands and waters in January, citing climate crisis. A federal judge in Louisiana in June then ordered the resumption of oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters.Announcing the upcoming Gulf of Mexico lease sale on Thursday…

In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare coined the phrase “salad days” to mean a youthful time filled with unbridled enthusiasm and idealism. Indeed, youth, much like salad, is often raw, flavorful and most of all… green. Therefore, it is fitting to think of our present time as the salad days of offshore energy in the United States. Let’s dig in.Executive Order appetizersOn January 27, President Biden took early steps to implement his campaign promise to transition the United States away from fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy…

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper announced the bureau will offer more than 48 million acres offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama for oil and gas exploration and development, in a lease sale that will include all available unleased areas in the Central Planning Area (CPA). “As one of the most productive basins in the world, the Gulf of Mexico remains an important component of our domestic energy strategy to create jobs, foster economic opportunities, and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil,” Hopper said. BOEM will livestream Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 247 on March 22, 2017. Livestreaming the sale enables BOEM to deliver pertinent bid information immediately to a much broader national and international audience.

Today’s U.S. oil and gas Lease Sale 248 garnered $18,067,020 in high bids for 24 tracts covering 138,240 acres in the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area, announced Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper. A total of three offshore energy companies participated in 24 bids. The sum of all bids received totaled $18,067,020. In this sale, part of the Obama Administration's continued commitment to safe and responsible domestic energy production, BOEM offered 23.8 million acres in federal waters offshore Texas for oil and gas exploration and development. “The Gulf of Mexico continues to be one of the most productive basins in the world and is an important part of our Nation’s domestic energy portfolio,” Hopper said.

As part of its five-year Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2012-2017, BOEM informs it intends to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) for this Program's last proposed Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas lease sale in the Central Planning Area (CPA) of the Gulf of Mexico. Proposed CPA Lease Sale 247 is tentatively scheduled to be held in 2017. BOEM proposes to offer for oil and gas leasing approximately 46 million acres in the CPA, with the exception of the whole and portions of blocks deferred by the Gulf of Mexico Security Act of 2006 and the blocks that are beyond the United States’ Exclusive Economic Zone in the area known as the northern portion of the Eastern Gap.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) completed its required evaluation of bids to ensure that the public receives fair market value for tracts leased as part of the Gulf of Mexico Central Planning Area Oil and Gas Lease Sale 235. The sale held on March 18, 2015, made 7,788 unleased blocks covering about 41.2 million acres offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama available for lease. After extensive economic analysis, BOEM awarded 161 leases on tracts covering 923,711 acres to the successful high bidders who participated in the sale. The accepted high bids are valued at $533,090,640.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will travel to New Orleans on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 to attend and open bids at an oil and gas lease sale offering 41.2 million acres for exploration and development in the Central Planning Area offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The results of the sale will be announced later in the morning during a media teleconference with Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper and Regional Director John Rodi.

Edison Chouest’s Fairweather, LLC lessens Arctic risk while increasing efficiencies in a challenging environment. As interest in offshore commerce in the Arctic increases, key components of any successful operation in this theatre include logistics, assets, and of course, a healthy dose of experience while operating in cold weather environments. To that end, Fairweather LLC’s Arctic operations include the Deadhorse Aviation Center (DAC). Strategically located at Prudhoe Bay, DAC provides oil companies and their suppliers with an aviation command center to manage both onshore operations and Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) exploration and production activities on the Arctic Ocean and Beaufort Sea.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Gulf of Mexico Regional Director John Rodi will open the Gulf of Mexico Western Planning Area Lease Sale 238 at 9 a.m. CDT on Wednesday, August 20, 2014 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. The sale, which offers more than 21 million acres for oil and gas exploration and development offshore Texas, is open to the public and news media representatives are invited to attend. Following the bid reading, a news media teleconference to announce the results of the sale will be conducted by BOEM Gulf of Mexico Deputy Regional Director Michael Celata. Media wishing to participate in the teleconference only should call 1-888-469-1174 by 10 a.m. CDT and provide the passcode GULF SALE.

As part of its commitment to a regionally tailored approach to safe and responsible domestic energy production, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today issued a Call for Information and Nominations for potential Oil and Gas Lease Sale 242, proposed for the Beaufort Sea Planning Area off Alaska in 2017. The 45-day Call seeks to gather information about specific areas within the Beaufort Sea Planning Area that have the most promising oil and gas resource potential, while also increasing the agency’s understanding about environmentally sensitive habitats and important social and cultural uses – including vital Alaska Native subsistence activities – that also exist within the area.

As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to continue to expand safe and responsible domestic energy production, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau today announced that 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. Proposed Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 238…

As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to continue to expand safe and responsible domestic energy production, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today announced that it will hold Gulf of Mexico Eastern Planning Area oil and gas lease sale 225 in New Orleans on March 19, 2014, immediately following the proposed Central Planning Area (CPA) Sale 231. Proposed Sale 225 is the first lease sale proposed for the Eastern Planning Area under the 2012 – 2017 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Natural Gas Leasing Program, and the first sale offering acreage in that area since Sale 224, held in March of 2008. “This proposed sale is another important step to promote responsible domestic energy production through the safe…

As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to continue to expand safe and responsible domestic energy production, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today announced that it will hold Gulf of Mexico Central Planning Area (CPA) oil and gas lease sale 231 in New Orleans on March 19, 2014. The sale is the second CPA lease sale and the fourth overall sale under the 2012 – 2017 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Natural Gas Leasing Program. The auction will offer 39 million acres offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, include all available unleased areas in the CPA.

As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to continue to expand safe and responsible domestic energy production, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today held Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 233, which offered 20.7 million acres and attracted $102,351,712 in high bids for 53 tracts covering 301,006 acres on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) offshore Texas. A total of 12 offshore energy companies submitted 61 bids. The Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale builds on the first two auctions in the current Five Year Program – a 39-million-acre Central Gulf offering held in March, which netted almost $1.2 billion high bids and a 20-million-acre Western Gulf offering held last November that netted nearly $134 million.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) completed its required evaluation to ensure that the public receives fair market value for tracts leased as part of Central Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 227, which was held on March 20, 2013. After extensive economic analysis, BOEM has awarded 307 leases on tracts covering 1,648,831 acres to the successful high bidders who participated in the sale, which made 7,299 unleased blocks covering about 38.6 million acres available offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The accepted high bids are valued at $1,199,052,037. The terms of Sale 227 continued a range of incentives to encourage diligent development and ensure a fair return to taxpayers — including an increased minimum bid for deepwater tracts…

As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to continue to expand domestic energy production, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau announced that Interior 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. Proposed Lease Sale 233, scheduled to take place in New Orleans in August, will be the third offshore auction under the Administration’s Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (Five Year Program).