ConocoPhillips Wednesday bid $103.2 million for a tract in the western Gulf of Mexico (GOM), making it the highest bidder in the first auction held by the federal government in the region since the Macondo well blowout in 2010 (see Daily GPI, April 26, 2010).

ConocoPhillips submitted the bid for Block 95 in Keathley Canyon. The Houston-based producer was the apparent high bidder on 75 blocks, the most for any company, and had the most in bonus bids, $157.8 million, said the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which conducted Lease Sale 218 in New Orleans.

The lease sale attracted a total of $337.7 million in high bids and included 20 companies submitting 241 bids on 191 tracts comprising more than one million acres offshore Texas in the areas of Matagorda Island, Brazos, Galveston, High Island, West Cameron, East Breaks, Garden Banks, Alaminos Canyon and Keathley Canyon. The sum of all bids received totaled $712.7 million, BOEM said.

Sale 218, the last remaining sale in the Western Gulf Planning Areas in the 2007-2012 Outer Continental Shelf leasing program, made available 3,913 unleased blocks covering more than 21 million acres. The blocks are located from nine to about 250 miles offshore, in water depths ranging from 16 to more than 10,975 feet.

In addition to ConocoPhillips, some of the other bidders were Hess Corp., Apache Corp., ExxonMobil Corp. Shell Offshore Inc., Anadarko US Offshore Corp., BP Exploration & Production, Plains Exploration & Production Co. and Arena Energy LP.

“From our point of view, the most important thing today is that this lease sale [218] took place,” said Randal Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents the offshore industry.

“After nearly two years without a sale in the Gulf, companies are understandably eager to secure new leases for new projects, and we saw that today in the number of bids submitted and the healthy mix of majors and independents. Clearly interest in the deepwater areas remains high, with nearly 85% of bids on deepwater tracts.

“This sale is a step in the right direction toward getting companies back to work producing new vitally important domestic domestic offshore oil and gas,” Luthi said.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), which represents major oil and natural gas producers, echoed the sentiment. “Holding the first oil and natural gas lease sale in the western Gulf of Mexico in two years is a positive step,” said Erik Milito, API’s group director of upstream and industry operations.

Environmental groups filed a complaint Tuesday in federal court in Washington, DC, challenging a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) that cleared the way for Lease Sale 218 (see Daily GPI, Dec. 14). The lawsuit asks that the SEIS be vacated. “We think it doesn’t comply with the National Environmental Policy Act,” said Catherine Wannamaker, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, which will represent the groups in court.

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