WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- The first oil and natural gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico since last year's Deepwater Horizon accident is scheduled for Dec. 14, the U.S. government said.
Washington in October 2010 lifted a moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The ban was enacted after an explosion at a BP oil rig in April 2010 killed 11 rig workers and led to a massive oil spill.
U.S. Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Tommy Beaudreau announced the BOEM would have a sale for oil and natural gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico Dec. 14 in New Orleans.
"This sale is an important step toward a secure energy future that includes safe, environmentally sound development of our domestic energy resources that will continue to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create jobs here at home," Salazar said in a statement.
The lease sale encompasses more than 21 million acres believed to hold as much as 423 million barrels of oil and possibly more than 2.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Deep-water blocks will go for a minimum bid of $100 per acre and $25 per acre for shallow-water blocks.
Critics of U.S. domestic energy policy complain the federal government isn't doing enough to ensure energy security. They want more land opened to drilling operations.
