USA to Offer 21 Mln Acres in Offshore Texas Lease Sale

Newly appointed U.S. 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 have 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). The sale builds on the first two auctions in the current Five Year Program – a 39-million-acre sale held in March, which attracted more than $1.2 billion in high bids and a 20- million-acre sale held last November that netted nearly $134 million.

“The Gulf of Mexico is a cornerstone of the United States’ energy portfolio,” said Secretary Jewell. “This proposed lease sale reflects President Obama’s continued commitment to safely and responsibly develop our domestic energy resources to help create jobs, foster economic opportunities and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.”

Lease Sale 233 will include 3,953 blocks, covering about 21.1 million acres, located from nine to 250 miles offshore, in water depths ranging from 16 to more than 10,975 feet (5 to 3,346 meters). BOEM estimates the proposed sale could result in the production of 116 to 200 million barrels of oil and 538 to 938 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

“This proposed sale is another important step to promote responsible domestic energy production through the safe, environmentally sound exploration and development of the nation’s Outer Continental Shelf energy resources,” said Beaudreau. “We are advancing the Administration’s goal of continuing to safely increase vital oil and gas production, while encouraging diligent development and a fair return to taxpayers for these valuable public resources that belong to all Americans.”