Lease Sale 157
April 24, 1996

The Outer Continental Shelf Sale 157 was held in New Orleans, Louisiana on April 24, 1996. 93 companies offered 1,381 bids on 924 tracts, totaling $716.1 million. The total sum of apparent winning bids was $520.9 million. There were 5,469 blocks, covering some 30 million acres, offered in Sale 157.

This is a record number of bids, some 32% higher than the previous record dating back to December 1970, when 1,043 bids were submitted on just 127 tracts.