The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will offer 38 million acres in the central Gulf of Mexico (GoM) for oil and gas exploration and development, according to a news release.

This sale will build on two major GoM lease sales in the last year – a 21 million acre sale held last December and a 39 million acre sale held in June.

Proposed Lease Sale 227, scheduled to take place in New Orleans on March 20, 2013, will offer all unleased areas in the Central GoM Planning Area, offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and could lead to the production of up to nearly 1 Bbbl of oil and nearly 4 Tcf of natural gas, the release stated.

This will be the second sale under President Barack Obama administration’s new Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-17 and the first of five annual Central Gulf lease sales. Announced in June, the five-year program makes offshore areas with more than 75% of the technically recoverable oil and gas resources available for exploration and development.

Lease Sale 227 encompasses about 7,250 unleased blocks covering approximately 38 million acres. The blocks are located from three to about 230 miles offshore, in water depths ranging from 3 m to 3,400 m (9 ft  to more than 11,115 ft). BOEM estimates the proposed lease sale could result in the production of 0.46 Bbbl to 0.89 Bbbl of oil and 1.9 Tcf to 3.Tcfof natural gas.

Western Gulf Lease Sale 218, held in December 2011, made 21 million acres available, and received high bids on tracts covering about one million acres, netting nearly $325 million. Central Gulf Lease Sale 216/222, held in June 2012, covered nearly 39 million acres, and attracted more than $1.7 billion in high bids for more than 2.4 million acres. The next sale, Western GoM Lease Sale 229, announced earlier this year, will take place in New Orleans on Nov. 28.

BOEM conducted an extensive environmental review and published a final environmental impact statement with analysis to support decision-making for proposed Lease Sale 227 and other Western and Central GoM lease sales scheduled under the new five-year program. 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, according to the news release.

The proposed terms also continue to include a range of incentives to encourage diligent development and ensure a fair return to taxpayers. In addition, BOEM has implemented a new, streamlined format for sale notices, beginning with this sale, making the document more user-friendly and accessible to the public.

Proposed terms and conditions for the sale are available at: http://www.boem.gov/sale-227. The Notice of Availability of the Proposed Notice of Sale can be viewed today in the Federal Register at: https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection. Copies can also be requested from the Gulf of Mexico Region’s Public Information Office at 1201 Elmwood Park Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70123, or at 800-200-GULF (4853).