The Department of the Interior will offer more than 40 million acres for oil and gas exploration and development in the Gulf of Mexico in consecutive March lease sales, the U.S. agency stated in a press release.
“These lease sales underscore the President's commitment to create jobs through the safe and responsible exploration and development of the Nation's domestic energy resources,” said Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, in a press release. “The five year program reflects this Administration's determination to facilitate the orderly development while protecting the human, marine and coastal environments and ensuring a fair return to American taxpayers.”
The two lease sales, Lease Sale 231 in the Central Planning Area and Lease Sale 225 in the Eastern Planning Area, will be held in New Orleans March 19.
The first Lease Sale, 231, includes about 7,507 of unleased blocks, spanning more than 39.6 million acres, situated about 3 to 230 miles offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in water depths ranging from 9 to 11,115 feet. Around 1 billion barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could potentially be produced as a result of the proposed sale, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) estimates.
