Boem

More than 40 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), with oil and natural gas leaseholds offered in the Central and Eastern planning areas, are going to be auctioned on March 19 in New Orleans, said the U.S. Department of Interior.

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Friday said it has proposed an oil and natural gas lease sale in the central region of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) for March 19.

The Interior Department’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) said it has fined Apache Corp. approximately $2.72 million for “knowing or willful” submission of false information. The civil penalty stems from an ONRR audit that found the producer was improperly deducting transportation costs on its Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act Section 6 leases in the Gulf of Mexico. The Section 6 leases at issue to not allow for transportation deductions from royalty payments, the ONRR said. ONRR auditors ordered Apache in May 2010 to stop claiming the transportation deductions on its Section 6 leases and to pay back the deductions. While Apache complied and paid the additional royalties, in August 2010 it began deducting transportation costs from its royalty payments on those same Section 6 leases. In July 2011, ONRR’s Audit and Compliance Management Program referred the matter to the Office of Enforcement, which issued the civil penalty in late September after concluding its investigation.

The Western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Lease Sale 233, which offered for bid 20.7 million acres offshore Texas, yielded fewer offers and lower total high bids than in the past, with 12 operators making 61 offers for 53 blocks that covered just more than 300,000 acres, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) officials said Wednesday.