The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold an oil and gas lease sale for the Gulf of Mexico on November 17, in compliance with an order from a US District Court.
Lease sale 257, which will be livestreamed from New Orleans, will include approximately 15,135 unleased blocks located from 3 to 231 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, with water depths ranging from 9 to more than 11,115 feet (3 to 3,400 meters).
The Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), covering about 160m acres, is estimated to contain about 48bn barrels of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and 141trn cubic feet of undiscovered technically recoverable gas.
The notice of availability of the final notice of sale (FNOS) will be published in the Federal Register on October 4.
The Biden Harris Administration is continuing a comprehensive review of deficiencies associated with American offshore and onshore oil and gas leasing programs.
