U.S. Interior Department to Offer Nearly 80 Million Acres in Gulf of Mexico Oil, Gas Lease Sale

The U.S. Interior Department proposed to offer all available unleased areas in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas leasing in November, according to a July 17 press release. The auction marks the seventh offshore sale under the 2017-2022 leasing program.

The sale was initially scheduled for August, but was postponed to the Fall, in order to conduct additional analysis in light of the recent changes in the oil and gas markets, due partly to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The sale will include about 14,755 unleased blocks. The Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf spanning about 160 million acres, is estimated to contain about 48 billion barrels of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and 141 trillion cubic feet of gas.

The sixth offshore sale held under the five-year program, generated $93,083,453 in high bids for 71 tracts spanning 397,285 acres.