Outer Continental Shelf Lease Sale 82: sale preparation and subsequent cancellation

Technical Report · Tue Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 1985

OSTI ID:6318943

The Department of the Interior cancelled Outer Continental Shelf Lease Sale 82 in September 1984 when no industry bids were received. The companies that GAO contacted said that the main reason they did not bid was because of the poor prospects for oil and gas in the North Atlantic. Other reasons included tract deletions and deferrals, lack of available bidding partners, and a high minimum bid price. Although Interior originally had planned to offer about 25 million acres, only 6.3 million acres remained available for lease on the sale date. Acreage was deleted from the sale because of a congressional leasing moratorium to protect fishery resources, other resource or use conflicts, state concerns, and a pending decision by the International Court of Justice regarding a border dispute with Canada. These deletions included areas of both high resource potential and where industry had expressed interest. 11 figs.

• Research Organization: General Accounting Office, Washington, DC (USA). Resources, Community and Economic Development Div.
• OSTI ID: 6318943
• Report Number(s): GAO/RCED-86-30; ON: TI86900615
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020700* -- Petroleum-- Economics
Industrial
& Business Aspects
03 NATURAL GAS
030600 -- Natural Gas-- Economic
Industrial
& Business Aspects
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CONTINENTAL SHELF
FEDERAL REGION I
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
LEASING
MAINE
MASSACHUSETTS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
NEW HAMPSHIRE
NORTH AMERICA
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCES
RHODE ISLAND
SALES
US DOI
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA