Lease Sale 187
August 20, 2003

The Outer Continental Shelf Sale 187 was held in New Orleans on August 20, 2003. 

Sale 187, just completed, resulted in 407 bids, by 63 companies, on 335 tracts, for a total of $258,716,307. The total sum of apparent winning bids was $148,715,127, on approximately 1.9 million acres.

In this same area last year, Sale 184 resulted in 391 bids, by 44 companies, on 323 tracts, for a total of $181.6 million. The total sum of apparent winning bids was $151.3 million, on approximately 1.8 million acres.

The following table reflects preliminary sale data released by the MMS, and shows how Sale 187 compares with previous Western Sales

 

The big players, in terms of number of tracts bid on, are:

·        Amerada Hess Corporation - 65 bids

·        BHP Billiton Petroleum (Deepwater) Inc. - 63 bids

·       BP Exploration & Production Inc. - 48 bids

·       Newfield Exploration Company - 28 bids

·        Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corporation - 23 bids

In terms of total amount exposed, we have:

·       LLOG Exploration Offshore, Inc. - $26.9 million

·       Newfield Exploration Company - $25.1 million

·       The William G. Helis Company, L.L.C. - $18.9 million

·       Amerada Hess Corporation - $17.8 million

·        Dominion Exploration & Production, Inc. - $13.9 million

In terms of total amount of high bids, we have:

·        LLOG Exploration Offshore, Inc. - $26.9 million

·        Amerada Hess Corporation - $15.7 million

·        Shell Offshore Inc. - $9.4 million

·        BP Exploration & Production Inc. - $9.1 million

·        BHP Billiton Petroleum (Deepwater) Inc. - $8.1 million