The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will offer more than 9000 blocks, spanning more than 48 million acres in the Central Gulf of Mexico (GoM) Lease Sale 247, which is the Obama Administration's final GoM sale in its five year program.
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Image from BOEM Flickr. |
As part of the Obama Administration's continued commitment to support safe and responsible domestic energy production, BOEM Director Abigail Ross Hopper said the acreage is offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and available for oil and gas exploration and development. Lease Sale 247 will include all available unleased areas in the Central Planning Area (CPA).
Sale 247 includes 9118 blocks, located from 3-230mi offshore, in water depths ranging from 9ft to more than 11,115ft (3m-3400m).
“As one of the most productive basins in the world, the Gulf of Mexico remains an important component of our domestic energy strategy to create jobs, foster economic opportunities, and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil,” Hopper said. “The exploration and development of the Gulf of Mexico’s energy resources will continue to help power our nation and drive our economy.”
Once again, BOEM will livestream the lease sale, which will be held on 22 March 2017.
Lease Sale 247 marks the 12th and final Gulf offshore sale under the Administration’s Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (Five Year Program).
This sale builds on the 11 sales previously held in the current Five Year Program, which netted more than US$3 billion for American taxpayers, in support of the Administration’s goal of continuing to increase domestic oil and gas production, BOEM said.
Earlier this week, President Obama caused quite an uproar in the oil and gas industry, as he banned offshore areas in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans from future mineral extraction.
Prior to his announcement, in November, the US Department of the Interior (DOI) and BOEM released the final plan for the Outer Continental Shelf lease sales for 2017-2022, which excluded areas in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas in the US Arctic.
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