On March 6, 2017, the US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke today announced that the Department, through the Bureau of Energy Management (BOEM), would offer 73 million acres offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida for oil and gas exploration and development leases. The first region-wide US Gulf auction in 35 years was scheduled for August 16, 2017. Previous sales have been restricted to specific regions.
The August 16 US Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 249 had $121 million in high winning bids and a high bid point for a single auction site at $12 million, made by France’s Total and the next single highest lease buy was by ExxonMobil for $10.8 million, both for deepwater leases. Most bids, though, were at or under $1 million. The deepwater exploration sites near existing discoveries or fields were coveted over the shallow-water sites.
In total, Shell and Chevron led the auction. Shell placed $25 million in winning bids while Chevron placed $27.9 million in winning bids.