The proposed Lease Sale 233, which is slated to take place in New Orleans in August, will be the third offshore auction under the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017.
Interior said the latest sale will include all available unleased areas in the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area.
It will include 3,953 blocks, spread over more than 21.1 million acres, located from nine to 250 miles offshore, in water depths ranging from 16ft to more than 10,975ft.
According to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the proposed sale is expected to produce about 116 to 200 million barrels of oil and 538 to 938 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
The sale follows the first two auctions in the current Five Year Program, which includes a 39m acre sale held in March, which attracted more than $1.2bn in high bids and a 20m acre sale held in November 2012 and attracted nearly $134m.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell commenting on the lease sale said that Gulf of Mexico is a cornerstone of America’s energy portfolio.
