SOUNDBITE: A Federal sale of offshore oil and natural gas leases in the Central Gulf of Mexico attracted the second highest total of high bids in U.S. offshore leasing history. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service, which conducted Oil and Gas Lease Sale 205, received a total of 1,428 bids on 723 tracts with one tract going for $90,488,445. MMS Regional Director for the Gulf of Mexico, Lars Herbst said the historic sale emphasizes the Gulf’s strategic value for America’s energy security and the significant economic benefits of environmentally safe oil and gas production. (text)

SOUNDBITE: There were 84 companies participating in the sale. The deepest tract to receive a bid is in 3,398 meters or just over 11,148 feet of water. Herbst says a combination of factors including newly available tracts and a trend toward deep water production is the reason for the competitive sale. (text)

SOUNDBITE:  Each high bid on a block will now go through a thorough evaluation process to ensure that the public receives fair market value before a lease is awarded. Developing these oil and gas rights in the Gulf assures that it will continue to provide the nation with 25 percent of domestically produced oil and 15 percent of domestically produced natural gas. (text)

SOUNDBITE:  More production also means more jobs which generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually to help Gulf States meet the educational, environmental and infrastructure needs of their communities. (text)

The sale offered 5,359 tracts, comprising about 28.7 million acres in federal areas offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.  Approximately 40 percent of the tracts receiving bids in this sale are in ultra-deep water.

SOUNDBITE: The second lease sale of the new Five Year Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program will take place in New Orleans on Wednesday. The sale covers about 28.7 million acres in federal areas offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in the newly configured Central Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Planning Area. Lars Herbst is the Minerals Management Service’s Gulf of Mexico Regional Director. He says the sale will include some tracts that haven’t been offered since 1988.

SOUNDBITE: There has been a record number of bids for the sale, the highest since 1997, with many tracts receiving multiple bids. Herbst says the bidding shows a firm commitment from the oil and gas industry to the future of energy development in the Gulf of Mexico.  

SOUNDBITE:  The total number of tracts offered for sale is 5,359 and when developed could, by some estimates, result in the production of 776 million to 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 3.2 to 5.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.