WASHINGTON—The first of many lease sales mandated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—which requires regular offshore lease sales—drew bids from 30 companies spanning 181 blocks across 80 million acres in the U.S. Gulf. The high bids added up to $300,425,222, the U.S. Department of the Interior reports.

For Erik Milito of the National Ocean Industries Association, the lease sale is worth celebrating. “After two long years without lease sales, Gulf of America Lease Sale ‘Big Beautiful Gulf 1’ is a milestone for America’s energy future,” he says. “Lease sales are foundational to U.S. energy production and remain one of the most important tools to attract investment, support jobs in all 50 states, and build American energy dominance.”

Acting Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Matt Giacona comments: “The strong bidding we saw reflects sustained industry confidence in the long-term potential of the U.S. outer continental shelf and the clear direction of this administration to expand responsible offshore development.”

BOEM says it offered approximately 15,000 unleased blocks in the Western, Central and Eastern Gulf planning areas. To encourage strong participation and spur investment, the agency says it applied a 12.5% royalty rate to shallow and deepwater leases, the lowest deepwater rate since 2007.

The OBBA requires 30 lease sales in the Gulf by 2040. Laura Robbins, BOEM’s regional head for the Gulf, says the results in the first sale reflect industry confidence that additional lease sales will follow under the new law, reducing pressure to concentrate bidding in a single sale.

“When you're setting that level of certainty ... they are not pressed to have to come in all at once,” she is quoted by news site Axios.

Deepwater Focus

Deepwater tracts drew more interest than their shallower counterparts. According to BOEM data, sale participants bid on 81 blocks in depths ranging from 800-1,600 meters and 72 blocks in depths greater than 1,600 meters. That compares to 12 blocks in depths below 200 meters, one block for 200-400 meters, and 15 blocks for 400-800 meters.

The bid amounts reinforce this trend. For 800-1,600 meters, the winning bids add up to $126,524,342. For more than 1,600 meters, it jumps to $155,494,697. In contrast, the 0-200 meter blocks raised $2,776,823, the 200-400 meter block garnered $3,219, and the 400-800 meter blocks attracted $15,626,141.

BP Exploration & Production Inc. topped the charts for the total number of winning bids at 51. Chevron U.S.A. Inc. ranked second with 24 bids, followed by Murphy Exploration & Production Co. at 14 and both Shell Offshore Inc. and Repsol OCS LLC at 12.

For total winning bids, BP remains in first place at $61,881,157, with Chevron again coming in second at $53,096,223. Woodside Energy (Deepwater) Inc. placed third with $38,083,648, followed by Murphy with $27,388,989 and Beacon Offshore Energy Exploration LLC with $20,059,432.

For more information on the sale, including maps showing the blocks that received bids, see BOEM’s page for the sale.