Deepwater Oil Spill Recovery Underway
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 2:33PMBy Adrianna McGinley
Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar touted the implementation Wednesday of the first phase of restoration projects to the Gulf of Mexico following last year’s oil spill, primarily the lease auction to resume oil exploration efforts along the Louisiana coast.
The first lease for offshore oil and gas development was auctioned off in New Orleans today, just 20 months after the Deepwater Horizon spill, something Salazar said marks a historic success in oil spill recoveries.
“This sale today…marks a milestone with respect to the greatest overhaul of in American history on oil and gas in America’s oceans,” Salazar said. “We are proud of how far we have come.”
Twenty oil and gas companies made 241 bids totaling $712 billion. The highest bid for one block was $103.2 million made by ConocoPhillips.
“What these results demonstrate is that there is a great interest in continuing to develop oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico,” Salazar said.
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