The Big Beautiful Gulf 3 Lease Sale (BBG3) generated $82.7 million in apparent high bids for 59 blocks.
Marine Minerals Administration (MMA) said 16 companies submitted 69 bids, totaling $99.5 million, for the 12 August lease sale. BBG3 is the third of 30 lease sales required to be held by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in the Gulf of America, which was renamed from the Gulf of Mexico.
BBG3 made available 15,185 blocks spanning 81 million acres in. A dozen blocks in water depths of less than 200 m received bids, while only two in waters of 400 to 800 m drew bids.
Bid Offers
Of the 59 blocks that received bids, 52 drew single offers, five received two bids, one brought in three offers, and one received four bids.
Deepwater blocks drew the most interest, with bids on 22 blocks in water depths of 1,600 m or more, and 23 blocks in water depths between 800 and 1,600 m. The seven single highest bids were on blocks in at least 1,600-m water depth, and the other three spots in the top 10 were for blocks in 800- to 1,600-m water depths.
Alaminos Canyon Block 380 drew the highest apparent high bid, of $7.7 million from Murphy E&P. Keathley Canyon Block 258 attracted the most interest, receiving four bids, including the second-highest apparent high bid at $7.5 million. Other top bids included Murphy’s $7.1 million offer for Alaminos Canyon Block 691, Shell’s $6.1 million offer for Walker Ridge Block 21, and Equinor’s $5.3 million offer for Walker Ridge Block 55.
Chevron submitted a high bid of $4.7 million for Keathley Canyon Block 430, and Murphy offered $4.1 million for Alaminos Canyon Block 735. Chevron offered $3 million for Green Canyon Block 384 and $2.4 million for Green Canyon Block 340. LLOG submitted an offer of $2.2 million for Atwater Valley Block 63.
Murphy submitted the largest sum of apparent high bid offers, at $21.4 million. Chevron submitted $15.6 million in apparent high bids, followed by BP with $11.4 million, Shell with $9.4 million, and Equinor with $9 million.
Chevron and Arena Energy submitted the most apparent high bids at nine each, followed by LLOG with eight, Murphy and Anadrako with six each. BP, Shell, and Equinor each submitted five apparent high bids, followed by Talos Energy and Renaissance Offshore with a pair each.
Previous Sales
BBG3 was the first lease sale to be held under the auspices of the MMA following the merger of Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), announced in April.
Kate MacGregor, deputy secretary of the interior, said during the bid opening livestream that the reunification of BOEM and BSEE will restore accountability and improve coordination to create a stronger foundation for responsible, efficient development of offshore energy resources.
Matthew Giacona, acting director of the MMA, said during the bid opening livestream, “We’re advancing a durable 5-year plan that will provide industry with a predictable path forward to new opportunities, and we will soon unveil a stranded resource recovery program that will fundamentally reshape Gulf oil and gas development economics on the OCS (Outer Continental Shelf),” he said.
The Big Beautiful Gulf 2 Lease Sale in March generated $46.98 million in apparent high bids, while the bidders exposed $69.84 million through a total of 38 bids. BOEM offered 15,019 blocks in the Gulf 2 sale, which was held a week after an unsuccessful Cook Inlet offering, which made available more than 1 million acres for leasing but failed to receive any bids. That was the first of six Alaskan offshore oil and gas auctions mandated through 2032 by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Earlier this month, the MMA proposed modernizing and refining federal regulations governing exploratory oil and gas drilling on the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf. According to the government, the proposal would make targeted revisions to the 2016 Arctic Exploratory Drilling Rule to reduce regulatory burdens, improve clarity and operational efficiency, and better reflect technological advancements and implementation experience since the 2016 rule was issued. The proposal is under a 60-day comment period following publication in the Federal Register.