The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has announced that it will hold an oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico on March 29.
Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 259 will offer approximately 13,600 blocks on 73.3 million hectares in the Western, Central and Eastern Planning Areas of the US Outer Continental Shelf, according to a statement published in BOEM website, which adds that BOEM must receive all bids. only via the US Postal Service before 10:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time on March 28.
In the statement, BOEM highlighted that the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) required the organization to maintain the 259 lease sale by March 31.
“In January, BOEM released a final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the lease sale that analyzed significant environmental resources and identified robust mitigation measures to consider in leasing the area,” BOEM noted in the statement.
“The lease sale terms include stipulations to mitigate potential adverse effects on protected species and to avoid potential conflicts with other marine uses… BOEM’s proposed economic terms are designed to encourage diligent development while ensuring value fair market for taxpayers and remain IRA compliant.” BOEM added.
BOEM’s previous lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico was lease sale 257, which was originally held in November 2021. A federal judge invalidated the results of the sale in February 2022 before BOEM announced the September 2022 which had reinstated the lease sale offers 257 “in accordance with IRA”.
On January 9, BOEM announced that it had issued its final supplemental environmental impact statement for Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sales 259 and 261. BOEM is to hold lease sale 261 to end of September, as indicated in the IRA, the organization of the organization. website schematics.
Vital to national security interests
In a statement sent to Rigzone, National Ocean Industries Association President Erik Milito said: “The announcement by the Office of Ocean Energy Management of the notice of final sale of The first offshore oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico since November 2021 is vital to our national security interests and will contribute important energy supplies amid tight global demand.”
“Importantly, the sale of 259 offshore oil and gas leases was mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law by President Biden in August. Our national energy needs clearly support a commitment to the continued development of US offshore energy,” he added.
“U.S. Gulf of Mexico offshore energy production is a key component of a national energy strategy that will ensure Americans can continue to have access to critical domestic energy that is produced in a safe, sustainable and responsible manner Milito continued.
In the statement, Milito said operations in the US Gulf of Mexico “adhere to the highest safety and environmental standards.”
“The multitude of companies involved in offshore energy development are working collaboratively to reduce an already small carbon footprint. From electrifying operations to deploying innovative solutions that reduce size, weight and the number of parts of the offshore infrastructure, thus increasing safety and decreasing emissions, the US Gulf of Mexico is home to a high-tech revolution,” Milito said.
“Oil produced in the US Gulf of Mexico is half as carbon intensive as other producing regions. The technologies used in deepwater production, which accounts for 92 percent of the oil produced in the Gulf of Mexico in the United States, places this region among the lowest carbon-intensive oil-producing regions in the world,” he added.
“Policies that restrict domestic offshore development require imports to make up the shortfall, and supplemental production to come from higher-emitting operations in other countries,” Milito said.
First sale of offshore wind lease in the Gulf of Mexico
Last week, the DOI announced that it does proposing the first offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico.
Described by the organization as another step by the Biden-Harris administration to grow America’s clean energy economy, the development is part of the administration’s latest actions to expand offshore wind opportunities to more regions of the country, the DOI emphasized. The proposed sale is also part of the lease path announced by DOI Secretary Haaland in 2021 to meet the administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030, the DOI noted.
The proposed notice of sale (PSN) includes a 102,480-acre area on the shores of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and two areas off the coast of Galveston, Texas, one 102,480 acres and the other 96,786 acres, according to the DOI.
Milito previously described PSN’s announcement for the Gulf of Mexico’s first offshore wind lease sale as “an important step in building the offshore wind sector in the United States.”
To contact the author, please send an email andreas.exarcheas@rigzone.com
