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Posts Tagged ‘big beautiful Gulf of America’

Lease Sale BBG1 – “the other guys”

Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , on December 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

While the majors and large independents garner most of the attention, smaller companies are an integral part of the mosaic that is the Gulf of America petroleum province. Some focus on producing and identifying remaining reserves on the shelf; others partner in deepwater projects.

Sale participants like Arena, Cantium, Walter, W&T, Beacon, Kosmos, and Houston Energy are well established Gulf leaseholders. Red Willow has attracted attention as a successful Southern Ute energy corporation.

Some BBG1 participants may be lesser known:

Collective bids by category:

  • Majors (BP, Shell, Chevron, Oxy/Anadarko, Total, Equinor. Eni, Repsol) submitted 151 bids
  • Large independents (LLOG, Woodside, Murphy, Talos) submitted 51 bids (individually or as part of a group)
  • Other independents submitted 46 bids (individually or as part of a group)

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One Big Beautiful Lease Sale? We shall see.

Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , on November 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

One Big Beautiful Gulf of America

The first ever Gulf of America oil and gas lease sale 😉 will be held on Dec. 10, 2025. Instead of numbering the sale sequentially (i.e. Sale 262), the sale has been designated OCS Oil and Gas One Big Beautiful Bill Act Lease Sale 1 (BBG1). 🙄 This change is a bit too cute for some of us old-timers, but we’ll judge the sale by its results, not its name.

The Notice of Sale is attached. The terms are very attractive, with the lowest allowable royalty rate (1/8th) on all shelf and deepwater leases. Note the comparison of royalty rates in the table below. The 6.25% difference for deepwater leases is substantial when you consider their high production potential.

Gulf Sale No.Date% royalty: <200m water depth% royalty: >200m water depth
25611/18/202012.518.75
25711/17/202112.518.75
25812/30/202218.7518.75
2593/29/202318.7518.75
26112/20/202318.7518.75
BBG112/10/202512.512.5

The rental rates for the BBG1 Sale are also very attractive compared to Sale 261:

Water DepthSale 261 rental rates ($/ac)BBG1 Sale rental rates ($/ac)
0 to <200myears 1-5: $10
year 6: $20
year 7: $30
year 8+: $40		years 1-5: $7
year 6: $14
year 7: $21
year 8+: $28
200 to <400myears 1-5: $16
year 6: $32
year 7: $48
year 8+: $64		years 1-5: $11
year 6: $22
year 7: $33
year 8+: $44
400+ myears 1-5: $16
year 6: $22
year 7: $22
year 8+: $22		years 1-5: $11
year 6: $16
year 7: $16
year 8+: $16

Will the bidding reflect the very favorable lease terms?

GOA Lease Sale BBG1 – Final Notice of SaleDownload

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