Interior secretary: 18 million acres off Texas, Louisiana offered for Aug. 18 lease sale
By APThursday, April 1, 2010
Salazar: 18M-acre offshore oil lease sale Aug. 18
HARVEY, La. — U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the government will offer 18 million acres off the Texas and Louisiana coasts at an oil and gas lease sale Aug. 18.
Salazar made the announcement at a news conference Thursday in the New Orleans suburb of Harvey.
He said experts estimate that the area holds 1.6 trillion to 2.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 242 million to 423 million barrels of oil.
Earlier plans to lease the Gulf of Mexico area were held up by a lawsuit challenging the department’s plan for offshore drilling auctions through 2012 because it included new areas in Alaska’s Beaufort, Bering and Chukchi seas.
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