Offshore Lease Sale 59 affected by differing views on oil and gas potential

Technical Report · Thu Mar 24 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:6287468

The Department of the Interior's higher than normal rejection rate of bids for offshore lease sale tracts in mid-Atlantic Sale 59 could have been caused by many factors. The most likely explanation is that Interior viewed the quantity of potential oil and gas resources located in the sale area more optimistically than industry did. These differing views also led to a wide disparity between Interior's budgetary revenue estimate for the sale and what industry offered for the sale tracts. Other factors considered by Interior and industry in determining tract values, such as exploration and development costs, may have contributed to the tract value differences, but not significantly. The Interior Department recently announced a new bid acceptance approach which will rely more on competition and marketplace values to determine the acceptability of high bids, rather than its own independently developed minimum tract values. Interior will indepenently evaluate and value only selected tracts under this new approach. Had this system, planned for implementation in April 1983, been used in Sale 59, it is likely that a number of rejected bids would have been accepted and more tracts leased. 5 tables.

• Research Organization: General Accounting Office, Washington, DC (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6287468
• Report Number(s): GAO/RCED-83-9; ON: DE83902413
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020700* -- Petroleum-- Economics
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03 NATURAL GAS
030600 -- Natural Gas-- Economic
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29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290200 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Economics & Sociology
294002 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Petroleum
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ATLANTIC OCEAN
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CONTINENTAL SHELF
DATA
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
INFORMATION
LAND LEASING
LEASING
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
NUMERICAL DATA
OFFSHORE SITES
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCES
SALES
SEAS
STATISTICAL DATA
SURFACE WATERS
US DOI
US ORGANIZATIONS