The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has set 10 December for the next oil and gas lease sale in the US Gulf. The agency has published a Proposed Notice of Sale (PNOS) in the Federal Register detailing the planned offering.
According to the notice, Lease Sale 262 will offer approximately 15,000 unleased blocks located 3 to 231 miles offshore across the Gulf’s Western, Central, and Eastern Planning Areas. The offered tracts are in water depths ranging from 9 to more than 11,100 ft.
Sale 262 is the first of three planned lease sales in the region under the 2024–2029 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, and the first since Sale 261 held December 2023. BOEM added it was in the process of developing a new National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program that will include additional leasing opportunities.
"To support robust industry participation, lower production costs, and unleash the full potential of the Gulf’s offshore energy reserves, BOEM is proposing a royalty rate of 16⅔% for both shallow and deepwater leases—the lowest rate for deepwater since 2007,” said Laura Robbins, BOEM’s Acting Regional Director for the Gulf.
The BOEM's PNOS kicks off a 60-day comment period for the affected state governors and local governments. Following the comment period, the agency will issue a Final Notice of Sale in the Federal Register at least 30 days before the scheduled public bid reading, which will be livestreamed via Zoom.
The 2023 sale attracted 352 bids from 26 participating companies. The auction generated about $382 million in high bids, mostly from major oil companies with Shell, Occidental, Repsol, Chevron, and BP setting the pace.
