GoM Lease Sale 235 draws heavy deepwater interest

March 19, 2015
In the US Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 235, deepwater and ultra-deepwater tracts drew the most bids. 

Offshore staff

HOUSTON – In the US Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 235, deepwater and ultra-deepwater tracts drew the most bids. Of the blocks in water depths 1,600 m (5,250 ft) or more, 64 drew bids totaling $334,974,279. For blocks in 900-1,600 m (2,953-5,250 ft), 36 drew bids totaling $192,099,011.

The tracts drawing the most number of bids were Green Canyon 364 and 904, and Atwater Valley 153. The highest bid on a block was $52,224,107 for Walker Ridge 107, and that was from Houston Energy and Red Willow Offshore.

Of the 412 companies placing bids, the 10 most active companies and the number of bids from each was as follows: Shell Offshore Inc., 17; Statoil Gulf of Mexico LLC, 14; Venari Offshore LLC, 12; Chevron U.S.A. Inc., 11; Exxon Mobil Corp., 11; Houston Energy L.P., 10; BHP Billiton Petroleum (Deepwater) Inc., nine; Apache Shelf Exploration LLC, nine; Red Willow Offshore LLC, nine; and Anadarko US Offshore Corp., nine. There were a total of 195 bids.

03/19/2015