Producers submit $372mn in bids in US Gulf lease sale

The Lease Sale Big Beautiful Gulf 1 (BBG1), held by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), part of the US Department of the Interior (DoI), attracted a total of 219 bids worth a combined $372mn. The DoI said on December 10 that that sale had generated $279mn in high bids for 181 blocks across 80 million acres (323,749 square km).

The sale took place in federal waters of the US Gulf of Mexico, which the DoI calls the Gulf of America in line with a January 2025 executive order from US President Donald Trump. The sale was the first to be held under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). A second Gulf lease sale, BBG2, is scheduled for March 2026.

The DoI said the BOEM had offered roughly 15,000 unleased blocks across the Western, Central and portions of the Eastern Gulf planning areas. In an effort to encourage participation, a 12.5% royalty rate was applied for shallow and deepwater leases, which the DoI said was the lowest deepwater rate since 2007.

The two highest bids were submitted by Chevron and Woodside Energy, at of $18.6mn and $15.2mn respectively. Meanwhile, BP was the high bidder on 51 of its 58 bids, worth a combined $61.9mn, making it the most successful bidder in the auction.

The lease sale generated about $100mn less in high bids than the last Gulf lease sale, which was held in 2023. However, Reuters reported that according to its analysis of the results, companies bid more per acre than at any federal auction in the Gulf since 2017. Meanwhile, Bloomberg cited DoI officials as saying that the lower total reflected a shift in strategy among operators. With lease sales now required on a regular schedule under the Trump administration, companies can place bids more selectively, they argued.

"They are not pressed to come in all at once," the BOEM’s acting director of the Gulf region, Laura Robbins, said at an online press conference following the sale.

Indeed, under former US President Joe Biden, a historically low number of oil and gas lease sales had been planned in an effort to help move the US away from fossil fuels. However, this trend has been reversed under the Trump administration and the OBBBA requires at least 30 offshore lease sales to be held in the Gulf by 2040, with sales being held twice a year.

“Today’s lease sale is another major milestone in rebuilding American energy dominance by unlocking investment, strengthening our energy security, creating jobs and ensuring Americans have access to affordable and reliable energy,” stated US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.