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Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 157

  • Sale 157, the Federal outer continental shelf (OCS) natural gas and oil lease sale in the Central Gulf of Mexico, held on April 24, 1996, attracted high bids of $521 million.
  • The Minerals Management Service offered 5,649 blocks for lease comprising approximately 30,322,792 acres offshore Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Seventy-eight (78) companies submitted a record 1,381 bids on 924 blocks.
  • This first sale of 1996 topped the previous record for number of bids set in 1971 by 32 percent.
  • Twenty-nine (29) percent of the bids were on blocks in greater than 800 meters of water.
  • The highest bid on a block goes through an evaluation process to ensure that taxpayers receive fair market value before a lease is awarded. Each block is approximately 9 square miles.
  • Vastar Resources Inc. submitted the highest bid of $11.2 million for Mississippi Canyon Block 941. South Marsh Island Area, North Addition Block 261 received the highest number of bids — 10. Texaco had the largest number of winning bids (127) followed by Zilkha Energy which won 115 bids.
  • The deepest block to receive a bid was Walker Ridge 811 at a depth of 9,090 ft (2,771 m) and 201 mi (322 km) offshore Louisiana. BP Exploration and Oil Inc. bid $271,800 for this tract.
  • The OCS currently supplies 24 percent of America's natural gas and 14 percent of its oil production.
  • This lease sale continues a 2-year trend of renewed industry interest in Gulf of Mexico leasing sparked by increased use of 3D seismic technology, and improvements in drilling technology which have resulted in several subsalt and deepwater success stories. These improvements in drilling technology have made the region, in some cases, a proving ground for offshore technology.

Summary of preliminary data for Lease Sale 157:


Sale Day Highlights

1 Sum of High Bids $520,942,644
Sum of All Bids $716,059,864
2 Blocks Offerred 5,649
Acres Offerred 30,322,792.332
3 Blocks Receiving Bids 924
Acres Reveiving Bids 4,761,166.89
4 Total Number of Bids 1,381
Average Number of Bids 1.5
5 Greatest Number of Bids Per Block 10
Map Area and Block Number South Marsh Island Area, North Addition 261
6 Highest Bid on a Block $11,151,000
Map Area and Block Number Mississippi Canyon 941
Number of Bids for Block 5
High Bidder Vastar Resources, Inc.
7 Highest Bid per Acre $4,560.26
Map Area and Block Number with the Highest Bid per Acre Green Canyon 658
Number of Bids for Block 1
Bidder BP Exploration & Oil Inc.
8 Total Number of Compnies Participating 93
9 Deepest Block Receiving a Bid (Map Area and Block Number) Walker Ridge 811
Water Depth 9,090 feet
Distance from Shore 201 miles from Louisiana


Data categories


Bidding Statistics by Water Depth

Water Depth Blocks with Bids Acres Receiving Bids Sum of High Bids Sum of All Bids
0 to 200 meters 453 2,095,751.99 $262,296,276 $383,484,713
200 to 400 meters 29 138,644,.81 $27,664,430 $31,998,759
400 to 800 meters 41 236,160.00 $29,246,093 $36,162,227
>800 meters 401 2,290,610.09 $201,735,845 $264,414,165


Data categories


Blocks Receiving Bids by Number of Bids per Block by Water Depth

Number of Bids Total <200 meters 200 to 400 meters 400 to 800 meters > 800 meters
1 647 285 22 29 311
2 174 107 5 8 54
3 64 37 2 3 22
4 18 12 0 0 6
5 13 6 0 1 6
6 4 2 0 0 2
7 1 1 0 0 0
8 2 2 0 0 0
9 0 0 0 0 0
10 1 1 0 0 0


Data categories


Bidding Statistics by Lease Term

Lease Term (years) Block with Bids Acres Reveiving Bids Sum of High Bids Sum of All Bids
5 482 2,234,369.80 $289,960,706 $415,483,472
8 56 322,560.00 $37,671,795 $48,932,848
10 386 2,204,210.09 $193,310,143 $251,643,544


Data categories


Bidding Statistics by Royalty Rate

Royalty Rate Blocks with Bids Acres Receiving Bids Sum of High Bids Sum of All Bids
16 2/3% 482 2,234,396.80 $289,960,706 $415,483.472
12 1/2% 442 2,526,770.09 $230,981,938 $300,576,392


Data categories


Blocks with Section 8(g) Acreage

Number of Blocks Offerred 160
Number of Acres Offerred 478,272.91
Number of Blocks Receiving Bids 41
Number of Bids on 8(g) Blocks 79
Total Block Acreage 152,673.65
Total 8(g) Acreage 87,160.290
Sum of High Bids on 8(g) Blocks $25,539,807
Sum of All Bids on 8(g) Blocks $35,979,213

Note: In accordance with Section 8(g) of the OCSLA Amendments of 1978, coastal States must receive some revenue from the leasing and development of offshore areas which contain oil and gas fields that straddle Federal and State jurisdictional boundaries. Congress resolved in the OCSLA Amendments of 1985, Public Law 99–72 to provide for recurring annual disbursements of 27 percent of royalty, rent, and bonus revenues from Section 8(g) leases.

Data categories

 

Last Updated:  08/25/2010