# Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Region-Wide Oil and Gas Lease Sale 254

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URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/fr%3A2020-02716

## Record

- **Collection:** Federal Register
- **Document type:** Notice
- **Published:** February 12, 2020
- **Citation:** 85 FR 8010

## Text

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
[Docket No. BOEM-2019-0046]
Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Region-Wide Oil and Gas Lease Sale 254

AGENCY:

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Interior.

ACTION:

Final notice of sale.

SUMMARY:

On Wednesday, March 18, 2020, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will open and publicly announce bids received for blocks offered in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Region-wide Oil and Gas Lease Sale 254 (GOM Region-wide Sale 254), in accordance with the provisions of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, as amended, and the implementing regulations issued pursuant thereto. The GOM Region-wide Sale 254 Final Notice of Sale (NOS) package contains information essential to potential bidders, and consists of the NOS, information to lessees, and lease stipulations.

DATES:

BOEM will hold GOM Region-wide Sale 254 at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 18, 2020. All times referred to in this document are Central time, unless otherwise specified.

Bid submission deadline:
BOEM must receive all sealed bids between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on normal working days prior to the sale, or from 8:00 a.m. until the bid submission deadline of 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 17, 2020, the day before the lease sale. For more information on bid submission, see Section VII, “Bidding Instructions.”

ADDRESSES:

Bids will be accepted prior to the bid submission deadline at 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123. Public bid reading for GOM Region-wide Sale 254 will be held at 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana, but the venue will not be open to the general public, media, or industry during bid opening or reading. Bid opening will be available for public viewing on BOEM's website at
www.boem.gov/Sale-254
via live-streaming video beginning at 9:00 a.m. on the date of the sale. The results will be posted on BOEM's website upon completion of bid opening and reading. Interested parties can download the Final NOS package from BOEM's website at
http://www.boem.gov/Sale-254/.
Copies of the sale maps can be obtained by contacting the BOEM GOM Region: Gulf of Mexico Region Public Information Office, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394, (504) 736-2519 or (800) 200-GULF.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Susan Erin O'Reilly Vaughan, Chief, Leasing and Financial Responsibility, Office of Leasing and Plans, 504-736-1759,
erin.o'reilly@boem.gov
or Wright Jay Frank, Chief, Leasing Policy and Management Division, 703-787-1325,
wright.frank@boem.gov.

Table of Contents

I. Lease Sale Area

II. Statutes and Regulations

III. Lease Terms and Economic Conditions

IV. Lease Stipulations

V. Information to Lessees

VI. Maps

VII. Bidding Instructions

VIII. Bidding Rules and Restrictions

IX. Forms

X. The Lease Sale

XI. Delay of Sale

I. Lease Sale Area

Blocks Offered for Leasing:
BOEM will offer for bid in this lease sale all of the available unleased acreage in the GOM, except those blocks listed below in “Blocks Not Offered for Leasing.”

Blocks Not Offered for Leasing:
The following whole and partial blocks are not offered for lease in this sale. Official Protraction Diagrams (OPDs) and Supplemental Official Block Diagrams are available online at
https://www.boem.gov/Maps-and-GIS-Data/.

•
Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (East and West Flower Garden Banks and Stetson Bank):

Area
OCS block

High Island, East Addition, South Extension (Leasing Map TX7C)

Whole Block: A-398.
Partial Blocks: A-366, A-367, A-374, A-375, A-383, A-384, A-385, A-388, A-389, A-397, A-399, A-401.

High Island, South Addition (Leasing Map TX7B)
Partial Blocks: A-502, A-513.

Garden Banks (OPD NG 15-02)
Partial Blocks: 134, 135.

•
Blocks that are adjacent to or beyond the United States Exclusive Economic Zone in the area known as the northern portion of the Eastern Gap:

Area
OCS block

Lund South (OPD NG 16-07)
Whole Blocks: 128, 129, 169 through 173, 208 through 217, 248 through 261, 293 through 305, and 349.

Henderson (OPD NG 16-05)
Whole Blocks: 466, 508 through 510, 551 through 554, 594 through 599, 637 through 643, 679 through 687, 722 through 731, 764 through 775, 807 through 819, 849 through 862, 891 through 905, 933 through 949, and 975 through 992.

Partial Blocks: 335, 379, 423, 467, 511, 555, 556, 600, 644, 688, 732, 776, 777, 820, 821, 863, 864, 906, 907, 950, 993, and 994.

Florida Plain (OPD NG 16-08)
Whole Blocks: 5 through 24, 46 through 67, 89 through 110, 133 through 154, 177 through 197, 221 through 240, 265 through 283, 309 through 327, and 363 through 370.

•
All whole and portions of blocks deferred by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006, Public Law 109-432:

Area
OCS block

Pensacola (OPD NH 16-05)
Whole Blocks: 751 through 754, 793 through 798, 837 through 842, 881 through 886, 925 through 930, and 969 through 975.

Destin Dome (OPD NH 16-08)
Whole Blocks: 1 through 7, 45 through 51, 89 through 96, 133 through 140, 177 through 184, 221 through 228, 265 through 273, 309 through 317, 353 through 361, 397 through 405, 441 through 450, 485 through 494, 529 through 538, 573 through 582, 617 through 627, 661 through 671, 705 through 715, 749 through 759, 793 through 804, 837 through 848, 881 through 892, 925 through 936, and 969 through 981.

DeSoto Canyon (OPD NH 16-11)

Whole Blocks: 1 through 15, 45 through 59, and 92 through 102.
Partial Blocks: 16, 60, 61, 89 through 91, 103 through 105, and 135 through 147.

Henderson (OPD NG 16-05)
Partial Blocks: 114, 158, 202, 246, 290, 334, 335, 378, 379, 422, and 423.

•
Depth-restricted, segregated block portion(s):

Block 299, Main Pass Area, South and East Addition (as shown on Louisiana Leasing Map LA10A), containing 1,125 acres, from the surface of the earth down to a subsea depth of 1,900 feet with respect to the following described portions: SW
1/4
NE
1/4
; NW
1/4
SE
1/4
NE
1/4
; W
1/2
NE
1/4
SE
1/4
NE
1/4
; S
1/2
S
1/2
NW
1/4
NE
1/4
; S
1/2
SW
1/4
NE
1/4
NE
1/4
; S
1/2
SW
1/4
SE
1/4
NE
1/4
NE
1/4
; N
1/2
SW
1/4
SE
1/4
NE
1/4
; SW
1/4
SW
1/4
SE
1/4
NE
1/4
; NW
1/4
SE
1/4
SE
1/4
NE
1/4
; N
1/2
NW
1/4
SW
1/4
SE
1/4
SE
1/4
NE
1/4
; N
1/2
SE
1/4
SW
1/4
SE
1/4
NE
1/4
; N
1/2
S
1/2
SE
1/4
SW
1/4
SE
1/4
NE
1/4
; S
1/2
NE
1/4
NW
1/4
; S
1/2
S
1/2
N
1/2
NE
1/4
NW
1/4
; N
1/2
SE
1/4
NW
1/4
;S
1/2
SE
1/4
NW
1/4
NW
1/4
; NE
1/4
SE
1/4
NW
1/4
NW
1/4
; E
1/2
NE
1/4
SW
1/4
NW
1/4
; N
1/2
SE
1/4
SE
1/4
NW
1/4
; NE
1/4
SW
1/4
SE
1/4
NW
1/4
; N
1/2
NW
1/4
SW
1/4
SE
1/4
NW
1/4
; SE
1/4
SE
1/4
SE
1/4
NW
1/4
; E
1/2
SW
1/4
SE
1/4
SE
1/4
NW
1/4
; N
1/2
NW
1/4
NE
1/4
SW
1/4
NW
1/4
; N
1/2
S
1/2
NW
1/4
NE
1/4
SW
1/4
NW
1/4
; N
1/2
N
1/2
NE
1/4
NE
1/4
NE
1/4
SW
1/4
; N
1/2
N
1/2
N
1/2
NW
1/4
NW
1/4
SE
1/4
; N
1/2
N
1/2
NW
1/4
NE
1/4
NW
1/4
SE
1/4
.

•
The following whole or partial blocks, whose lease status is currently under appeal:

Area
OCS block

Keathley Canyon (OPD NG15-05)
246, 247, 290, 291, 292, 335, 336.

Vermillion Area (Leasing Map LA3)
Partial Block 179.

Atwater Valley (OPD NG16-01)
63.

•
Whole or partial blocks that have received bids in previous sales, where the bidder has sought reconsideration of BOEM's rejection of the bid, are not offered in this sale, unless the reconsideration request is fully resolved at least 30 days prior to publication of this Final NOS.

The list of blocks available can be found under the Sale 254 link at
https://www.boem.gov/Sale-254
under the Final NOS tab.

II. Statutes and Regulations

Each lease is issued pursuant to OCSLA, 43 U.S.C. 1331-1356, as amended, and is subject to OCSLA-implementing regulations promulgated pursuant thereto in 30 CFR part 556, and other applicable statutes and

regulations in existence upon the effective date of the lease, as well as those applicable statutes enacted and regulations promulgated thereafter, except to the extent that the after-enacted statutes and regulations explicitly conflict with an express provision of the lease. Each lease is also subject to amendments to statutes and regulations, including but not limited to OCSLA, that do not explicitly conflict with an express provision of the lease. The lessee expressly bears the risk that such new or amended statutes and regulations (
i.e.,
those that do not explicitly conflict with an express provision of the lease) may increase or decrease the lessee's obligations under the lease.

III. Lease Terms and Economic Conditions

Lease Terms

OCS Lease Form

BOEM will use Form BOEM-2005 (February 2017) to convey leases resulting from this sale. This lease form can be viewed on BOEM's website at
http://www.boem.gov/BOEM-2005.

The lease form will be amended to include specific terms, conditions, and stipulations applicable to the individual lease. The terms, conditions, and stipulations applicable to this sale are set forth below.

Primary Term

Primary Terms are summarized in the following table:

Water depth
(meters)

Primary term

0 to evaluation of Block .”

In the event a person supplies any type of data to BOEM, that person must meet the following requirements to qualify for reimbursement:

(1) Must be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM), formerly known as the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). CCR usernames will not work in SAM. A new SAM user account is needed to register or update

an entity's records. The website for registering is
gsa.gov/iaesystems.

(2) Must be enrolled in the U.S. Treasury's Invoice Processing Platform (IPP) for electronic invoicing. The person must enroll in the IPP at
https://www.ipp.gov/.
Access then will be granted to use the IPP for submitting requests for payment. When submitting a request for payment, the assigned Purchase Order Number must be included.

(3) Must have a current On-line Representations and Certifications Application at
gsa.gov/iaesystems.

Please Note:
A digital as well as a printed copy should be sent in for the GDIS Statement, Table and Maps. The GDIS Statement should be sent in as a digital PDF. The GDIS Information Table must be submitted digitally as an Excel spreadsheet. The Proprietary Maps should be sent in as PDF files and the live trace outline of each proprietary survey should also be submitted as a shapefile. Bidder may submit the digital files on a CD, DVD, or any USB external drive (formatted for Windows). If bidders have any questions, please contact Ms. Dee Smith at (504) 736-2706, or Ms. Teree Campbell at (504) 736-3231.

Bidders should refer to Section X of this document, “The Lease Sale: Acceptance, Rejection, or Return of Bids,” regarding a bidder's failure to comply with the requirements of the Final NOS, including any failure to submit information as required in the Final NOS or Final NOS package.

Telephone Numbers/Addresses of Bidders

BOEM requests that bidders provide this information in the suggested format prior to or at the time of bid submittal. The suggested format is included in the Final NOS package. The form must not be enclosed inside the sealed bid envelope.

Additional Documentation

BOEM may require bidders to submit other documents in accordance with 30 CFR 556.107, 30 CFR 556.401, 30 CFR 556.501, and 30 CFR 556.513.

VIII. Bidding Rules and Restrictions

Restricted Joint Bidders

On November 5, 2019, BOEM published the most recent List of Restricted Joint Bidders in the
Federal Register
at 84 FR 59644. Potential bidders are advised to refer to the
Federal Register
, prior to bidding, for the most current List of Restricted Joint Bidders in place at the time of the lease sale. Please refer to the joint bidding regulations at 30 CFR 556.511-515.

Authorized Signatures

All signatories executing documents on behalf of bidder(s) must execute the same in conformance with the BOEM qualification records. Bidders are advised that BOEM considers the signed bid to be a legally binding obligation on the part of the bidder(s) to comply with all applicable regulations, including that requiring payment of one-fifth of the bonus bid on all apparent high bids. A statement to this effect is included on each bid form (see the document “Bid Form” that is included in the Final NOS package).

Unlawful Combination or Intimidation

BOEM warns bidders against violation of 18 U.S.C. 1860, which prohibits unlawful combination or intimidation of bidders.

Bid Withdrawal

Bids may be withdrawn only by written request delivered to BOEM prior to the bid submission deadline. The withdrawal request must be on company letterhead and must contain the bidder's name, its BOEM qualification number, the map name/number, and the block number(s) of the bid(s) to be withdrawn. The withdrawal request must be executed by one or more of the representatives named in the BOEM qualification records. The name and title of the authorized signatory must be typed under the signature block on the withdrawal request. The BOEM GOM RD, or the RD's designee, will indicate approval by signing and dating the withdrawal request.

Bid Rounding

Minimum bonus bid calculations, including rounding, for all blocks, are shown in the document “List of Blocks Available for Leasing” included in the Final NOS package. The bonus bid amount must be stated in whole dollars. If the acreage of a block contains a decimal figure, then prior to calculating the minimum bonus bid, BOEM rounded up to the next whole acre. The appropriate minimum rate per acre was then applied to the whole (rounded up) acreage. The bonus bid amount must be greater than or equal to the minimum bonus bid so calculated and stated in the Final NOS package.

IX. Forms

The Final NOS package includes instructions, samples, and/or the preferred format for the items listed below. BOEM strongly encourages bidders to use the recommended formats. If bidders use another format, they are responsible for including all the information specified for each item in the Final NOS package.

(1) Bid Form

(2) Sample Completed Bid

(3) Sample Bid Envelope

(4) Sample Bid Mailing Envelope

(5) Telephone Numbers/Addresses of Bidders Form

(6) GDIS Form

(7) GDIS Envelope Form

X. The Lease Sale

Bid Opening and Reading

Sealed bids received in response to the Final NOS will be opened at the place, date, and hour specified under the
DATES
and
ADDRESSES
sections of the Final NOS. The venue will not be open to the public. Instead, the bid opening will be available for the public to view on BOEM's website at
www.boem.gov
via live-streaming. The opening of the bids is for the sole purpose of publicly announcing and recording the bids received; no bids will be accepted or rejected at that time.

Bonus Bid Deposit for Apparent High Bids

Each bidder submitting an apparent high bid must submit a bonus bid deposit to ONRR equal to one-fifth of the bonus bid amount for each such bid. A copy of the notification of the high bidder's one-fifth bonus bid amount can be obtained on the BOEM website at
http://www.boem.gov/Sale-254
under the heading “Notification of EFT
1/5
Bonus Liability” after 1:00 p.m. on the day of the sale. All payments must be electronically deposited into an interest-bearing account in the U.S. Treasury by 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time the day following the bid reading (no exceptions). Account information is provided in the “Instructions for Making Electronic Funds Transfer Bonus Payments” found on the BOEM website identified above.

Submitting payment to your financial institution as soon as possible the day of bid reading, but no later than 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time the day of bid reading, will help ensure that deposits have time to process through the U.S. Treasury and post to ONRR. ONRR cannot confirm payment until the monies have been moved into settlement status by the U.S. Treasury.

BOEM requires bidders to use EFT procedures for payment of one-fifth bonus bid deposits for GOM Region-wide Sale 254, following the detailed instructions contained on the ONRR Payment Information web page at
https://www.onrr.gov/ReportPay/payments.htm.
Acceptance of a deposit does not constitute, and will not be

construed as, acceptance of any bid on behalf of the United States.

Withdrawal of Blocks

The United States reserves the right to withdraw any block from this lease sale prior to issuance of a written acceptance of a bid for the block.

Acceptance, Rejection, or Return of Bids

The United States reserves the right to reject any and all bids. No bid will be accepted, and no lease for any block will be awarded to any bidder, unless:

(1) The bidder has complied with all applicable regulations and requirements of the Final NOS, including those set forth in the documents contained in the Final NOS package;

(2) The bid is the highest valid bid; and

(3) The amount of the bid has been determined to be adequate by the authorized officer.

Any bid submitted that does not conform to the requirements of the Final NOS and Final NOS package, OCSLA, or other applicable statute or regulation will be rejected and returned to the bidder. The United States Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission will review the results of the lease sale for antitrust issues prior to the acceptance of bids and issuance of leases.

Bid Adequacy Review Procedures for GOM Region-Wide Sale 254

To ensure that the U.S. Government receives a fair return for the conveyance of leases from this sale, BOEM will evaluate high bids in accordance with its bid adequacy procedures, which are available on BOEM's website at
http://www.boem.gov/Oil-and-Gas-Energy-Program/Leasing/Regional-Leasing/Gulf-of-Mexico-Region/Bid-Adequacy-Procedures.aspx.

Lease Award

BOEM requires each bidder awarded a lease to complete the following:

(1) Execute all copies of the lease (Form BOEM-2005 [February 2017], as amended);

(2) Pay by EFT the balance of the bonus bid amount and the first year's rental for each lease issued in accordance with the requirements of 30 CFR 218.155 and 556.520(a); and

(3) Satisfy the bonding requirements of 30 CFR part 556, subpart I, as amended.

ONRR requests that only one transaction be used for payment of the balance of the bonus bid amount and the first year's rental. Once ONRR receives such payment, the bidder awarded the lease may not request a refund of the balance of the bonus bid amount or first year's rental payment.

XI. Delay of Sale

The BOEM GOM RD has the discretion to change any date, time, and/or location specified in the Final NOS package in the case of an event that the BOEM GOM RD deems could interfere with a fair and orderly lease sale process. Such events could include, but are not limited to, natural disasters (
e.g.,
earthquakes, hurricanes, floods), wars, riots, acts of terrorism, fires, strikes, civil disorder, or other events of a similar nature. In case of such events, bidders should call (504) 736-0557, or access the BOEM website at
http://www.boem.gov,
for information regarding any changes.

Walter D. Cruickshank,
Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

[FR Doc. 2020-02716 Filed 2-11-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/fr%3A2020-02716. Public record. Not legal advice.