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The NewsRoom
Release: # 3745
Date: October 30, 2007
MMS Issues
Proposed Notices of Central and Eastern Gulf Lease Sales
NEW ORLEANS
– The
Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) has
proposed that lease sales 206 and 224 for the Central Gulf of Mexico (GOM)
and Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning Areas (respectively) be held
consecutively March 19, 2008. The Notices of Availability of the
Proposed Notices of Sale (PNOS) were published in today’s
Federal
Register.
The proposed lease
sale 206 encompasses approximately 5,000 unleased blocks covering more
than 28.5 million acres in the Central GOM Planning Area offshore
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The acreage is located from
three to 230 miles offshore in water depths of about 10 feet (three
meters) to more than 11,200 feet (3,400 meters). Sale 206 offers the
same area for lease as did Central Gulf Sale 205 held October 3, 2007.
Sale 205, the last
lease sale conducted by the MMS, included tracts in the Central GOM
Planning Area and resulted in $2.9 billion dollars in high bids,
making it the agency’s second largest sale behind 1983’s Sale 72,
which generated $3.46 billion in high bids.
The department
estimates that this Sale 206 area contains approximately 0.877 to
1.457 billion barrels of oil and 3.653 to 5.892 trillion cubic feet of
natural gas.
The proposed lease
sale 224, mandated by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006,
encompasses 118 whole or partial unleased blocks which cover 547,230
acres in the Eastern GOM Planning Area. The acreage is located 125
miles offshore, south of Florida and west of the Military Mission Line
in water depths ranging from 2,657 feet (810 meters) to 10,213 feet
(3,113 meters).
“This is the first
sale in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning area to offer these blocks
since 1988,” said Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management
C. Stephen Allred. “It is also the first sale where sharing
provisions of the Energy Security Act will start immediately. The
states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas will share in
revenue from all leases resulting from this sale.”
The MMS estimates
that this Sale 224 area contains from 100 to 140 million barrels of
oil and 0.16 to 0.34 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. It will be
the only sale in the Eastern GOM to be held during the current Five
Year Program.
The PNOS for sales
206 and 224 include an increase in the royalty rate to 18.75 percent
and will include rental rates of $6.25/acre for tracts in waters 200
meters or less and $9.50/acre for tracts in deeper waters. Deepwater
Royalty Relief is provided in Sale 206 but has price thresholds above
which the Relief would end. The price thresholds for the sales are
$35.75 per barrel of oil and $4.47 per Mcf of gas, both based on 2006
dollars.
The Proposed
Notices of Sale information packages are posted on the MMS Website.
PNOS 206:
http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/lsesale/206/cgom206.html
PNOS 224:
http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/lsesale/224/egom224.html
In addition,
copies can be requested by mail at:
MMS Gulf of Mexico
Regional Office
Public Information
Unit
1201 Elmwood Park
Boulevard
New Orleans,
Louisiana 70123
Or by telephone at
(504) 736-2519, toll free 1-800-200-GULF.
Media Contact:
Eileen Angelico
504-736-2595
Caryl Fagot
504-736-2590
MMS: Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for America
U.S. Department of the Interior
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