MMS Issues Proposed Notice of Central Gulf Lease Sale 205

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has proposed that a lease sale be held in the newly configured Central Gulf of Mexico (CGOM) Planning Area. Lease Sale 205 is scheduled for October 3, 2007, and is the first Central GOM sale to be held in MMS' 2007 - 2012 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.  The Proposed Notice of Sale (PNOS) was published in the May 18, 2007 Federal Register. <http://frwebgate6.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=8431296449+0+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve>

The proposed lease sale encompasses approximately 5,000 unleased blocks covering more than 28.5 million acres in the Central GOM Planning Area.  The acreage is located from 3 to 210 miles offshore in water depths of 4 meters to more than 3,400 meters.   In accordance with section 104 of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006, Sale 205 does not include the areas that the act places under moratorium and respects the buffers created for the Florida coast.

The MMS estimate of the undiscovered economically recoverable hydrocarbons expected to be discovered and produced as a result of offering this area for lease ranges from 0.776 - 1.292 billion barrels of oil and 3.236 - 5.229 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. 

The entire Proposed Notice of Sale information package is posted on the MMS Website at <http://www.gomr.mms.gov/>. 

In addition, copies can be requested by mail at:
MMS Gulf of Mexico Regional Office
Public Information Unit
1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard
New Orleans, Louisiana 70123
Or by telephone at (504) 736-2519, toll free 1-800-200-GULF.