US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Acting Director Walter Cruickshank announced the award of the first three oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico that are subject to the US-Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement approved by the US Congress last December.
BOEM issued the first leases to ExxonMobil Corp., which bid US$21,333,850 for the tracts at the agency's August 2013 lease sale. Those bids were unsealed at the Eastern and Central Planning Area sales held on 19 March 2014.
The leases are located in Alaminos Canyon (AC 954, 955), about 170mi east of Port Isabel, Texas, and will be subject to the terms of the Transboundary Agreement when it becomes effective on 18 July 2014.
[Map excerpt at right from BOEM's Western Planning Area bid map, Lease Sale 233]
The Transboundary Agreement removes uncertainties regarding development of transboundary resources in the Gulf of Mexico. As a result of the agreement, nearly 1.5 million additional acres of the US Outer Continental Shelf will now be made more accessible for exploration and production activities by US firms and and Mexico's Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex). BOEM estimates that the area may contain 172 MMbo.
"With the agreement now in full force, we can make additional oil and gas along the resource-rich boundary between the United States and Mexico available and we have a clear process by which both governments can provide the necessary oversight to ensure exploration and development activities are conducted safely and responsibly," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said. "These leases represent a significant step forward in US-Mexico cooperation in energy production and pave the way for future energy and environmental collaboration."
The Transboundary Agreement offers a new level of certainty for the joint development of oil reservoirs straddling the international maritime boundary, according to the US Department of the Interior. If a joint development agreement can't be reached, the pact also provides a process for each side to individually develop the resources.
It also allows operations to be jointly inspected by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the Mexican government.
Coming up:
On July 17, blocks within the 1.4nm buffer area north of the continental shelf boundary in the Western Gap, previously deferred and containing approximately 158,584 acres, will become available for development. Beginning with Western Planning Area Sale 238 scheduled for August 2014, they may be available for leasing.
Previous coverage:
GOM lease sale to include areas within Transboundary, 15 April 2014
US enacts Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement, 27 December 2013
US-Mexico agreement likely headed for conference committee, 15 October 2013
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