The next lease sale for the Gulf of Mexico will take place in August this year, offering acreage ranging out into ultra-deepwater territory in the Western GoM.

Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, and Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director, Tommy P. Beaudreau, announced that more than 21 MM acres will be offered for exploration and development in Lease Sale 233.

The sale will be the third offshore auction under the Administration’s Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (Five Year Program), and builds on the first two auctions in the current program – a 39 MM-acre sale held in March (which attracted more than US $1.2 Bn in high bids), and a 20 MM-acre sale held last November that netted nearly $134m.

Lease Sale 233 will include 3,953 blocks, covering about 21.1 MM acres, located from nine to 250 miles offshore, in water depths ranging from 5-3,346 m+ (16-10,975 ft). BOEM estimates the proposed sale could result in the production of 116-200 MM bbl of oil and 538-938 Bcf of natural gas.

Offshore