The NewsRoom
Release: #3970
Date: March 18, 2009
Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 208
Attracts $ 703,048,523 in High Bids
New Orleans, LA
–
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar
announced that the Central Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas
Lease Sale 208, held today in New Orleans,
attracted $703,048,523 in high bids. The sale was conducted
by Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) and had 70 companies
submitting 476 bids on 348 tracts comprising over 1.9 million acres
offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The sum of all bids
received totaled $
933,649,315.
“Today’s lease sale will help us make a wise addition
to our nation’s energy supply,” said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
“The responsible energy development resulting from today’s sale will
be a part of our nation’s comprehensive energy plan, which will
include a renewed emphasis on conservation and an aggressive effort
to develop our renewable energy resources, so we can move our nation
toward energy independence.”
The highest bid received on a tract was
$ 65,611,235
submitted by Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc. for Mississippi Canyon, Block
721.
There was a total
of 13 tracts receiving bids in the “181 South Area” of the Central
Gulf of Mexico, Salazar noted, and the high bids for these tracts
totaled $6,476,545.
The states of Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana, and Texas will share in 37.5 percent
of the high bids on these tracts as well
as all future revenues generated
from this acreage leased today in the “181 South Area.” The
enhanced revenue sharing program was mandated by the Gulf of Mexico
Energy Security Act of 2006.
In addition, 12.5
percent of revenues from the “181 South Area” tracts will be
deposited into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for use by
states to enhance parklands and for other conservation projects.
Each high bid on a
tract will go through an evaluation process within MMS to ensure the
public receives fair market value before a lease is awarded.
Sale statistics for Central Sale 208 are posted on the
MMS website.
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
Privacy |
Disclaimers |
Accessibility |
Inspector General | FOIA
Last Updated:
03/18/2009,
01:33 PM
Central Time
|