08-24-2016
Contact: Caryl Fagot
504-736-2590
Auction Marks First Time BOEM Lease Sale Will Be Broadcast Live on the Internet
New Orleans, LA - On Wednesday, August 24, 2016, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will conduct a lease sale offering 23.8 million acres in federal waters offshore Texas for oil and gas exploration and development. Lease Sale 248, which offers all unleased and non-protected areas in the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area, will be livestreamed to the public via the BOEM website at ww.BOEM.gov or via livestream at https://livestream.com/BOEMGOMR/WPASale248. The bid reading begins at 9:00 AM CDT and will be broadcast live.
The federal sale is the first to be broadcast on the internet, allowing bid information to reach a much broader audience and eliminating the need for the public to physically attend the bid reading. News media representatives are invited to view the sale via the livestream and participate in a news media teleconference following the bid reading. BOEM Director Abigail Ross Hopper and Gulf of Mexico Regional Director Michael Celata will announce the results of the sale and answer questions.
As part of Obama Administration's continued commitment to safe and responsible domestic energy production, Lease Sale 248 is the eleventh offshore sale under the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (Five Year Program). The first ten sales in the Five Year Program offered more than 60 million acres for development and garnered more than $3 billion in bid revenues.
Lease Sale 248 includes 4,399 tracts from nine to more than 250 miles off the Texas coast, in water depths ranging from 16 to more than 10,975 feet (five to 3,346 meters).
When bidding closed, three companies had submitted 24 bids on 24 tracts for Western Sale 248. A map showing the location of tracts receiving bids is available on the BOEM website at: http://www.boem.gov/Sale-248/.
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WHO: |
Abigail Ross Hopper, BOEM Director and Michael Celata, Regional Director, BOEM Gulf of Mexico Region |
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WHAT: |
Lease Sale 248 and Media Conference Call to Announce Results |
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WHEN: |
Wednesday, August 24, 2016: Bid reading begins at 9:00 AM CDT |
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WHERE: |
Livestream at https://livestream.com/BOEMGOMR/WPASale248 or www.boem.gov |
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) promotes energy independence, environmental protection and economic development through responsible, science-based management of offshore conventional and renewable energy resources.