The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced the final notice of sale for lease sale "Big Beautiful Gulf 3" on July 7. This is the third of 30 offshore lease sales required under the "One Big Beautiful Bill" act.
The federal agency scheduled the notice to publish in the Federal Register on July 8, which begins a 30-day waiting period prior to the lease sale. A public bid reading is scheduled to be livestreamed by the bureau on August 12.
The bureau plans to offer approximately 15,100 unleased blocks spanning about 80.4 million acres (32.5 million hectares) on the US outer continental shelf.
Located between three miles (4.8 kilometres) and 231 miles (371.8 kilometres) offshore, these blocks feature water depths ranging from nine feet (2.7 metres) to over 11,100 feet (3,383.3 metres).
According to the agency, the sale directly supports Executive Order 14154 to accelerate offshore oil and gas development to lower energy costs and strengthen national energy security.
The Gulf of America outer continental shelf covers approximately 160 million acres (64.7 million hectares) and holds an estimated 26.9 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 45.59 trillion cubic feet (1.29 trillion cubic metres) of natural gas.
Certain areas are excluded from the lease sale, including blocks under a presidential withdrawal from September 8, 2020, and those within the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.