Contacts: Caryl Fagot
504-736-2590
As part of the Obama Administration's continued commitment to support safe and responsible domestic energy production, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper today 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. “The exploration and development of the Gulf of Mexico’s energy resources will continue to help power our nation and drive our economy.”
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. The livestream broadcast will begin at 9 a.m. CST via the BOEM website at www.boem.gov.
The twelfth and final Gulf offshore sale under the Administration’s Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (Five Year Program), this sale builds on the eleven sales previously held in the current Five Year Program, which netted more than $ 3 billion for American taxpayers, in support of the Administration’s goal of continuing to increase domestic oil and gas production.
Sale 247 includes approximately 9,118 blocks, located from three to about 230 miles offshore, in water depths ranging from 9 to more than 11,115 feet (3 to 3,400 meters).
The decision to hold this lease sale follows extensive environmental analysis, public comment and consideration of the best scientific information available. The terms of this sale include conditions to ensure both orderly resource development and protection of the human, marine and coastal environments. These include stipulations to protect biologically sensitive resources, mitigate potential adverse effects on protected species and avoid potential conflicts associated with oil and gas development in the region.
All terms and conditions for Central Sale 247 are detailed in the Final Notice of Sale information package, which is available at: http://www.boem.gov/Sale-247/. Copies of the FNOS maps can be requested from the Gulf of Mexico Region’s Public Information Unit at 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 70123, or at 800-200-GULF (4853).
The Notice of Availability of the Final Notice of Sale will be available tomorrow for inspection in the Federal Register at: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/public-inspection/index.html and will be published in the December 27, 2016 Federal Register.
BOEM promotes energy independence, environmental protection and economic development through responsible, science-based management of offshore conventional and renewable energy resources.