USA to hold record offshore round

The US administration will offer about 311,500 square kilometres of Gulf of Mexico acreage to oil and gas firms in March 2018, the Department of the Interior announced on Tuesday.

The largest offshore auction in the country’s history is to include “all available unleased areas on the Gulf’s Outer Continental Shelf,” the press release added.

“In today’s low-price energy environment, providing the offshore industry access to the maximum amount of opportunities possible is part of our strategy to spur local and regional economic dynamism and job creation and a pillar of President [Donald] Trump’s plan to make the United States energy dominant,” Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said. “And the economic terms proposed for this sale include a range of incentives to encourage diligent development and ensure a fair return to taxpayers.”

The blocks in question, spanning an area roughly the size of the state of New Mexico, are estimated to hold between 210 million and 1.12 billion barrels of crude and between 15.6 bcm (550 bcf) and 125 bcm (4.42 tcf) of gas.