Lease Sale 200
August 16, 2006

The Outer Continental Shelf Sale 200 was held in New Orleans on August 16, 2006. 

Sale 200, just completed, resulted in 541 bids, by 62 companies, on 381 tracts, for a total of $462,760,912. The total sum of apparent winning bids was $340,935,514, on approximately 2.1 million acres.

In this same area last year, Sale 196 resulted in 422 bids, by 56 companies, on 346 tracts, for a total of $335.6 million. The total sum of apparent winning bids was $285.2 million, on approximately 2.0 million acres.

The following table reflects preliminary sale data released by the MMS, and shows how Sale 200 compares with previous Western Sales

 

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

·       BP Exploration & Production Inc. - 53 bids

·       Petrobas America Inc. - 48 bids

·       Hess Corporation - 39 bids

·       Shell Ofshore Inc. - 36 bids

·       Hunt Oil Company - 36 bids

In terms of total amount exposed, we have:

·       Petrobas America Inc. - $60.1 million

·       BP Exploration & Production Inc. - $56.0 million

·       Shell Ofshore Inc. - $42.7 million

·       Chevron U.S.A. Inc. - $38.9 million

·       Cobalt International Energy, L.P. - $35.7 million

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

·       Petrobas America Inc. - $45.5 million

·        BP Exploration & Production Inc. - $37.5 million

·        Shell Ofshore Inc. - $35.4 million

·        Cobalt International Energy, L.P. - $33.1 million

·        Chevron U.S.A. Inc. - $26.2 million