Fossil Energy – Gulf of Mexico Auction
Reuters reported that a Biden administration auction of Gulf of Mexico drilling rights raised $382 million on Wednesday as oil companies claimed offshore acreage for what is set to be the last time until 2025.
The auction total was the highest of any federal offshore oil and gas lease sale since 2015, according to Reuters.
Shell, Hess, Anadarko, BP, Chevron, Repsol and Equinor were among the 26 companies that participated in the sale.
Anadarko had the auction’s highest bid of more than $25 million for a block in the deepwater Mississippi Canyon area, according to an online broadcast of the sale by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
The sale will likely be the last opportunity for oil and gas companies to bid on Gulf of Mexico acreage until 2025, according to the administration’s five year schedule, which includes a historically low number of planned lease auctions.
