Offshore oil rig drilling platform in the gulf

Lease Sale 259

Lease Sale 259 was held on March 29, 2023.

As required by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, BOEM held Gulf of America Oil and Gas Lease Sale 259 on Wednesday March 29, 2023. 

BOEM completed its review of ease Sale 259 to ensure the public received fair market value for acreage bid upon during the oil and gas lease sale.

Thirty-two companies participated in the sale, and a total of $263.8 million in high bids were offered on 313 tracts.

After extensive geological, geophysical, engineering, and economic analyses, BOEM has awarded a total of 299 leases on tracts covering approximately 1,599,448 acres. The accepted high bids are valued at $250,556,978.

BOEM rejected 14 high bids totaling $13,244,805.00. The rejected tracts will be available in future sales. The highest bid accepted was $15,911,947 submitted by Chevron USA, Inc for Keathley Canyon 96.

Final Bid Recap  

Sale-259-Final-Bid-Recap (264.5 KB) (July 17, 2023)

Bid Evaluation Results  

Lease Sale 259 Phase 2 Decision Matrix (182.84 KB) (July 14, 2023)
Phase 2 Acceptances (56.45 KB) (June 26, 2023)
Phase 2 Acceptances (87.29 KB) (June 22, 2023)
Phase 2 Acceptances (51.18 KB) (June 15, 2023)
Phase 2 Acceptances (45.35 KB) (June 1, 2023)
Phase 2 Acceptances (87.46 KB) (May 25, 2023)
Phase 2 Acceptance (21.35 KB) (June 7, 2023)
Phase 2 Acceptances (23.36 KB) (April 14, 2023)
Phase 2 Acceptances (117.11 KB) (April 27, 2023)
Phase 2 Acceptances (46.41 KB) (May 18, 2023)

Notification of EFT 1/5 Bonus Liability  

Sale 259 Notification of EFT (104.92 KB) (March 29, 2023)

Sale Statistics  

The documents below contain statistical information specific to Sale 259 held on March 29, 2023. The reports organize the data in several different ways.

Sale Statistics - Includes general summary information on sale bids.

Preliminary Bid Recap by Area & Block for All Bids (Report 1) - Includes complete information on all blocks that received bids. A final bid recap which includes bid acceptance and rejection results will be posted approximately three months after sale day.

High Bids Ranked by Bid Amount (Report 4) - Includes information on all high bids in ranked order.

Analysis of Bids by Company - Includes information on all bids by all companies.

Summaries of Company Bids (Report 6) - Includes bidding information by companies. The four reports are sorted by company as follows:

Sale 259 ZIP - This file displays bid information on acreage, royalty rates, and companies participating in this sale. It contains five fixed format, ASCII data files of tract, bid, and company data as well as a text file which shows the record layouts.

Lease Sale Map - Bid Distribution  

Lease Sale Map – Bid Distribution (March 29, 2023)PDF file | Zipped postscript file* | ARCGIS Online Interactive Map

Active Leases and Bids Received Map (March 29, 2023)PDF file | Zipped postscript file* | ARCGIS Online Interactive Map

*Note: This is an encapsulated Postscript plot file generated by ArcView. WinZip 8.1 was used to compress this file. Please read our disclaimer prior to downloading files.

Blocks Receiving Bids  

Note: This file contains the two letter area identifier, block number, and number of bids received on that block. Please read our disclaimer prior to downloading files.

Miscellaneous Presale Statistics  

Sale 259 Miscellaneous Presale Statistics (40.24 KB) (March 28, 2023)

Final Notice of Sale  

 *****NOTICE TO POTENTIAL BIDDERS*****

GDIS Information:

Example of Preferred Format includes:
1. Geophysical Data and Information Statement (GDIS),
2. Example of GDIS Spreadsheet, Table Definitions and Envelope,
3. Submittal of Reprocessed Data Survey Map, and
4. Example of Live Trace Map and Submission Instructions

Bidder Information:

Sale Maps:

Proposed Notice of Sale Package  

Proposed Notice of Sale Package

Instructions for Making EFT Bonus Payments