Western Gulf Lease Sale 177 was held on August 23, 2000, at the Royal Sonesta Hotel, 300 Bourbon Street, New Orleans, LA. The Offshore Oil Scouts Association provided a Webcast of Sale 177 on the internet. The company used was Vcall. You can visit their website at http://www.vcall.com.
NOTE: Two Sale 177 bids submitted by Shell Deepwater Development Inc. (OCS-G22323, Garden Banks Block 556; and OCS-G22326, Garden Banks Block 600) were inadvertently recorded by MMS as being submitted by Shell Offshore Inc. Thus a total of 53 companies submitted bids, not 52 as originally reported.
In the case of OCS-G22323, MMS also erroneously coded the bidder as Shell Offshore Inc. when it should have been Shell Deepwater Development Inc. In the case of OCS-G22326, MMS correctly coded the bidder as Shell Deepwater Development Inc. but also coded Shell Offshore Inc. as having a "0.0" percent interest in the bid.
Neither of these bids was the high bid on the blocks, so the previously reported totals for high bids and all bids remains unchanged. The number of companies participating in the sale remains at 60.
Any reports published and distributed by MMS prior to August 25, 2000, and which show bids by company may be incorrect as indicated above. All such reports have been rerun and the correct reports have been posted on the MMS website.
The MMS regrets this error and apologizes for any inconvenience it has caused.