GulfSlope to add two Gulf of Mexico blocks to portfolio

U.S. independent GulfSlope Energy has been the high bidder on two blocks in the Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 251. 

The company informed on Monday that it was apparent high bidder for two blocks covering a total of 10,000 acres in the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) region-wide Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 251.

These blocks include: Vermillion Area, South Addition Block 376 (5,000 acres), which is located in approximately 300 feet of water; and Eugene Island Area, South Addition Ship Block 371 (5,000 acres), which is located in approximately 400 feet of water.

John N. Seitz, Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are very pleased with the potential addition of these two blocks to our position of more than 55,000 acres in the Gulf of Mexico. Both blocks hold attractive subsalt targets and the Vermilion South Addition area has become an important focus area for us, with GulfSlope currently drilling at our Canoe Prospect and planning underway for a subsalt test at our Corvette Prospect.”

As announced by the BOEM on August 15, 2018, Lease Sale 251 generated $178,069,406 in high bids for 144 blocks covering 801,288 acres in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

A total of 29 companies participated in the lease sale, submitting $202,667,923 in total bids.

The companies that submitted the bids were Hess, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Walter Oil & Gas, W&T Offshore, Total, Houston Energy, LLOG, Anadarko, BP, Murphy, Equinor, Byron Energy, Peregrine Oil & Gas II, Castex Offshore, Ecopetrol, EnVen, Talos, Fieldwood, GulfSlope Energy, Deep Gulf Energy III, and SDB Offshore Energy.

The Department of Interior had offered 14575 blocks, of which 144 attracted bids. The total number of bids was 171, as some companies were bidding for the same blocks. Green Canyon block 437 attracted the highest amount of bids – four.

Most bids came for blocks located in waters 1600+ meters deep, attracting 55 bids. The highest bid for a single block came for the Mississippi Canyon block 338, for which Hess offered $25,9 million.

While Hess submitted the highest bid for a single block, ExxonMobil was the highest overall bidder. It had a total of 25 high bids the sum of which was $40 million. See below top ten high bidders.