Interior Secretary Gale Norton on Friday dashed any industry hopes that the Bush administration might consider restoring the pared-down eastern Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 181 to its original larger size in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the nation.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), Norton told reporters that Interior intended to stick with its July decision to trim the offshore acreage available during Lease Sale 181 by three-fourths — to 1.5 million acres from 5.9 million acres. Despite the smaller size, she sees the eastern GOM sale as critical to the country’s security.

“In the aftermath of last month’s terrorist attacks, Americans charged our government to strengthen national security. This [lease sale] is a positive step in that direction,” Norton told the IPAA group. The lease sale is scheduled for Dec. 5 in New Orleans.

This will be the first lease sale in the eastern GOM since 1988. Interior calculates that the sale area, which will encompass 256 blocks, contains approximately 1.25 Tcf of natural gas — enough to serve one million families in the United States for 15 years — and 185 million barrels of oil. This compares to the larger lease area originally proposed by Interior, which it estimated had enough gas to supply 6.5 million homes for 15 years.

In a related development, Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) on Friday issued a proposed schedule for 2002-2007 offshore lease sales that is identical to the draft it issued in July.

MMS proposes a total of 20 oil and gas lease sales during the five-year period, none of which will occur in areas that currently are under moratoria or presidential withdrawal. It calls for the five lease sales in the western Gulf, five in the central Gulf, and two in the eastern Gulf. The remaining sales will be off Alaska: three in Beaufort Sea, two in Cook Inlet/Shelikof Strait, one in Norton Basin, and two in Chukchi Sea/Hope Basin.

By year, the Interior agency has proposed a western Gulf sale in 2002; Central Gulf, Beaufort Sea, western Gulf, Norton Basin and eastern Gulf sales in 2003; central Gulf, Cook Inlet/Shelikof Strait, western Gulf, and Chukchi Sea/Hope Basin sales in 2004; central Gulf, Beaufort Sea, western Gulf and eastern Gulf sales in 2005; central Gulf, Cook Inlet/Shelikof Strait and western Gulf sales in 2006; and central Gulf, Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea/Hope Basin sales in 2007.

The fact that MMS has only proposed two eastern GOM sales already has drawn criticism from the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA). In the wake of the terrorist strikes, the offshore energy group had called on MMS to hold three lease sales in the eastern GOM for the 2002-2007 period, and to restore the size of the sales to the level that originally had been planned for the current 1997-2002 leasing program — 5.9 million acres.

The Interior agency will seek industry comments on its proposed 2002-2007 leasing program until Jan. 24, 2002, with a final program to be issued in April 2002 and to take effect on July 1, 2002.

Further information on MMS’ 2002-2007 leasing program can be downloaded from its web site at www.mms.gov, and comments may be sent by e-mail to MMS5-year.document@mms.gov. Comments also can be mailed to 5-Year Program Manager, MMS (MS-4430), 381 Elden St., Herndon, VA 22070. In addition, hand deliveries can be made at Interior’s headquarters at 1849 C St., NW, Room 4227, Washington, DC, 20240.

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