据油田技术7月22日报道，美国内政部长大卫?伯恩哈特（DavidBernhardt）宣布，海洋能源管理局(BOEM)将于2019年8月21日提供7780万英亩土地，用于租赁销售。此次出售将包括墨西哥湾联邦水域内所有可用的未批租区域。

伯恩哈特表示：“政府致力于以环保的方式开发我们国内的海上石油和天然气资源，墨西哥湾是这一发展的前沿和中心。美国能源行业的扩张一直是美国人民保持低能源价格的主要经济驱动力。这与我们在墨西哥湾为确保美国在能源生产方面处于世界领先地位而开展的工作至关重要。”

根据2017-2022年外大陆架（OCS）石油和天然气租赁计划，这将是第五次海上销售，计划在新奥尔良进行现场直播。根据这一方案，海湾地区的租赁总销售区域预计为10个，该地区的资源潜力和工业利益很高，石油和天然气基础设施也很完善。计划每年举行两次海湾地区的租赁销售，包括墨西哥湾西部、中部和东部规划区的所有可用区块。

租赁销售计划涵盖约14585个未批租区块，位于海湾西部、中部和东部规划区离岸3至231英里处，水深9至11 115英尺（3至3400米）。不包括在租赁销售范围内的：受2006年《墨西哥湾能源安全法》规定的国会暂停的区块；邻近或超出美国专属经济区的被称为东部缺口北部的区块；以及位于国家海洋保护区花园河岸的区域。

墨西哥湾OCS占地约1.6亿英亩，估计包含约480亿桶未发现的技术可采石油和141万亿立方英尺的技术可采天然气。

租赁获得的收入（包括高出价、租金支付和特许权使用费支付）会直接流向美国财政部、某些海湾沿岸州（德克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、密西西比州、阿拉巴马州）、土地和水资源保护基金以及历史保护基金。

BOEM墨西哥湾地区总监Mike Celata表示：“此次租赁销售是BOEM为保障国家能源未来而进行的多方面努力的关键部分。对环境负责的勘探和开发有助于海湾区域的能源继续为我们的国家提供动力，推动我们的经济发展。”

拟议出售产生的租约将包括保护生物敏感资源、减轻对受保护物种的潜在不利影响、避免与该地区油气开发相关的潜在冲突的规定。

洪伟立 摘译自 油田技术

原文如下：

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announces region-wide lease sale for Gulf of Mexico

US Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt, has announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will offer 77.8 million acres for a region-wide lease sale scheduled for August 21 2019. The sale would include all available unleased areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

“The Trump administration is laser focused on developing our domestic offshore oil and gas resources in an environmentally conscious manner, and the Gulf of Mexico is front and centre for that development,” said Secretary Bernhardt. “The expansion of America’s energy sector has been a major economic driver for the American people in keeping energy prices low. Our work in the Gulf of Mexico to ensure America leads the world in energy production is paramount.”

Lease Sale 253, scheduled to be livestreamed from New Orleans, will be the fifth offshore sale under the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program. Under this programme, a total of ten region-wide lease sales are scheduled for the Gulf, where resource potential and industry interest are high, and oil and gas infrastructure is well established. Two Gulf-wide lease sales are scheduled to be held each year and include all available blocks in the combined Western, Central, and Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning Areas.

Lease Sale 253 will include approximately 14 585 unleased blocks, located from three to 231 miles offshore, in the Gulf’s Western, Central and Eastern planning areas in water depths ranging from nine to more than 11 115 ft (three to 3400 m). Excluded from the lease sale are: blocks subject to the congressional moratorium established by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006; blocks adjacent to or beyond the US Exclusive Economic Zone in the area known as the northern portion of the Eastern Gap; and whole blocks and partial blocks within the current boundaries of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

The Gulf of Mexico OCS, covering about 160 million acres, is estimated to contain about 48 billion bbl of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and 141 trillion ft3 of undiscovered technically recoverable gas.

Revenues received from OCS leases (including high bids, rental payments and royalty payments) are directed to the US Treasury, certain Gulf Coast states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama), the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Historic Preservation Fund.

“This lease sale is a critical part of BOEM’s multi-faceted effort to secure our nation’s energy future,” said BOEM Gulf of Mexico Regional Director Mike Celata. “Environmentally responsible exploration and development of the Gulf’s vital energy resources continues to help power our nation and drive our economy.”

Leases resulting from this proposed sale would include stipulations to protect biologically sensitive resources, mitigate potential adverse effects on protected species, and avoid potential conflicts associated with oil and gas development in the region.