WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The fallout from a 2010 moratorium on oil and natural gas development in the U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico is still prevalent, an energy trade group said.
In December, the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced more than 20 companies submitted a total of 241 bids worth a combined amount of more than $700 million for the rights to explore about 1 million acres in the western Gulf of Mexico.