Minerals

The Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) lease sale last Wednesday in the Central Gulf of Mexico (Sale 182) drew high bids of $363.2 million from 77 companies, with Phillips Petroleum emerging as the highest bidder on a single block at $17.6 million. Dominion Exploration & Production, however, was the heaviest overall spender, shelling out $37.02 million on 37 blocks.

Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton has announced the appointment of Rejane Medinger “Johnnie” Burton as director of the Minerals Management Service. Burton has served as director of Wyoming’s Department of Revenue since 1995, and is a former business owner and legislator in the state.

The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) has issued on final rule on new procedures for obtaining royalty relief for certain offshore federal deepwater leases. It will allow some lease operators to apply for additional discretionary relief where royalty relief in the lease term is insufficient and the marginal nature of the project will preclude its further development.

On Wednesday the The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service will hold Lease Sale 181 covering 1.5 million acres in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. It is the first eastern Gulf lease sale in more than a decade.

The Western Gulf of Mexico lease sale 180 held in August by the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) “while not horrible, was not as spectacular as one might have originally thought,” according to a Stat of the Week by Raymond James energy analysts. The analysts noted that despite the “record levels of cash flow, pristine balance sheets, and what appears to be a general lack of prospects” for exploration and production companies, the “firecracker lease sales seem to have fizzled out.”

Last week’s Western Gulf of Mexico lease sale 180 by the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) “while not horrible, was not as spectacular as one might have originally thought,” according to a Monday Stat of the Week by Raymond James energy analysts. The analysts noted that despite the “record levels of cash flow, pristine balance sheets, and what appears to be a general lack of prospects” for exploration and production companies, the “firecracker lease sales seem to have fizzled out.”

Despite declining gas prices, drilling economics and drilling activity in the Gulf of Mexico, the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service reported western Gulf lease sale 180 last week was the fourth largest in the last 10 years in terms of the number of tracts receiving bids.

Following the sizeable Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 180 held by the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) last week, many exploration and production companies were quick to report their deals. Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp. and partners reported that they were the high bidders on 42 blocks, Pioneer Natural Resources Co. was the apparent high bidder on 21 blocks and Devon Energy Corp. reported that it was the high bidder on nine blocks.

The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service said its Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 180 received 386 bids totaling $190 million. About $165.6 million in high bids were received. Fifty participating companies bid on 320 tracts in the Western Gulf of Mexico, offshore Texas, and in deeper waters offshore Louisiana. There were no bids, however, submitted on 53 tracts offered in Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 178, Part 2, which covered the Western Gap area opened last year by a treaty between the United States and Mexico.