US Gulf lease sale raises more than $191 million

摘要

THE US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has received $191.6 million in high bids for 308 tracts covering about 80 million acres in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The region-wide Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 257 is the highest yielding auction since March 2019. Thirty-three companies participated in the sale, submitting 317 bids totalling more than $198.5 million. Lease Sale 256 held in November last year generated $121 million in high bids from 23 operators. US supermajor ExxonMobil made a splash in the Texas shallow-water acreage on offer, making the highest number of high bids at 94 totalling $14.8 million. "ExxonMobil made an interesting move, a massive land grab that appears to be a first-of-its-kind aimed at carbon capture and storage in the Gulf of Mexico," Rystad Energy oil analyst Colin White said.