AmericasOffshore

US Department of Interior proposes biggest ever oil and gas lease sale in Gulf of Mexico

The US Department of the Interior (DOI) on Tuesday announced plans for its biggest ever lease sale of oil and gas rights, covering a huge area of the US Gulf of Mexico.

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said the areas offered would be almost 77 million acres offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida – all the US states with Gulf shorelines.

Essentially Proposed Lease Sale 250, scheduled for March 2018, covers all unleased areas of federal waters on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). It comprises 14,375 blocks in water depths ranging from 3 metres to 3,400 metres.

The announcement is in line with President Donald Trump’s campaign promises to unleash as much of America’s energy potential as possible.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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