Page 32: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2006)

The Offshore Industry Annual

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32 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News

GOM Lease Sales

Up 38 Percent

Near record oil and gas prices led to robust bidding in an offshore federal lease sale recently. The Central Gulf of

Mexico Lease Sale 198, garnered $588,309,791 in high bids from 82 com- panies for oil and natural gas leases in the Federal waters of the Gulf of

Mexico. The total of all bids was $978,310,887. This represents a 38 per- cent increase over last years Central

Gulf Sale. The sale was held in New

Orleans and conducted by the Minerals

Management Service. In Sale 198 the agency received 707 bids on 405 tracts.

Johnnie Burton, Director of the Minerals

Management Service, spoke briefly at the sale. "The Department is committed to working with all interested parties to enhance energy development in an envi- ronmentally responsible manner in available areas of the Gulf," she said. In this sale, 4040 blocks comprising approximately 21.3 million acres off- shore Alabama, Louisiana, and

Mississippi were offered.

While interest in deep water produc- tion continues, the large number of tracts receiving bids in shallow water is of particular note, indicating industry interest in deep gas in shallow waters, as well as deep water oil and gas produc- tion. Amerada Hess Corporation submit- ted the highest bid on Green Canyon

Block 287 for $42,789,994. Newfield

Exploration Company and Anadarko

Petroleum Corporation submitted the second highest bid on Green Canyon

Block 551 for $33,989,760. Each of the high bids on a block will go through an evaluation process to ensure the public receives fair market value before a lease is awarded.

Top 5 Companies by Number of High Bids:

Company Total High Bids Sum of High Bids

BP Exploration & Production Inc. 73 $22,276,118

BHP Billiton Petroleum Inc. 26 $7,661,284

Hunt Oil Company 23 $10,943,280

Dominion Exploration & 16 $41,417,099

Production Inc.

Hydro Gulf of Mexico, L.L.C. 14 $20,117, 740

Top 5 Companies by Amount of High Bids:

Company Total High Bids Sum of High Bids

Amerada Hess Corporation 13 $62,593,922

Woodside Energy (USA) Inc. 12 $47,162,990

Dominion Exploration & 16 $41,417,099

Production Inc.

Newfield Exploration Company 6 $32, 208,909

Samson Offshore Company 10 $27,109,326 1#)ADHERESTO1!1#ANDSAFETYPOLICIESANDPROCEDURESTOPROVIDETOTALQUALITYPRODUCTSANDSERVICES 1#)COMPLIESWITH.ATIONALAND)NTERNATIONAL-ARITIME2EGULATIONS )NCLUDING5, )%%% ./23/+ 53#' !3-% !"3 $.6 3/,!3 !CCOMMODATIONS %LECTRICAL%LECTRONICS(6!#3ERVICES 4HE3INGLE3OURCE0ROVIDER FOR-ARINE3ERVICES s7ALLS #EILINGS&LOORING s$OORS7INDOWS s&URNISHINGS s0LUMBING s(6!# s$ESIGN%NGINEERING s0ROJECT-ANAGEMENT s0URPOSE "UILT!CCOMMODATIONS s-ODULAR$ESIGN#ONSTRUCTION s'ENERATOR3WITCHBOARD s3HORE0OWER s0OWER,OAD#ENTERS s-OTOR#ONTROL#ENTERS s,IGHTING$ISTRIBUTION s$EGAUSSING3YSTEM s7AVEGUIDE)NSTALLATION s)NTEGRATED"RIDGE3YSTEM s&IRE3MOKE$ETECTION s)NTERIOR#OMMUNICATION s.AVIGATION#OMMAND s-ACHINERY-ONITORING s&IBER/PTICS s4HERMAL)MAGING 7ILLOWBROOK0ARK$RIVE (OUSTON 4EXAS 0HONE   &AX   WWWQCIMARINECOM 

Circle 264 on Reader Service Card

Offshore Annual

Keppel Wins $270M

GlobalSantaFe Contract

Keppel FELS Ltd won a contract with

GlobalSantaFe Corporation (GSF) to build an ultra-deepwater drilling rig for $270 million. GSF will supply the drilling and sub-sea equipment while

Keppel FELS provides the design, engi- neering and construction of the hull as well as the accommodation quarters for 180 and marine equipment. The rig, to be named the GSF Development Driller

III, is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2009. The semisubmersible will be built to the proprietary design,

DSS-51, jointly designed and developed by Keppel's Deepwater Technology

Group (DTG) and Marine Structure

Consultants (MSC). According to ODS-

Petrodata's 12-monthly rolling forecast between February 2006 and January 2007, the demand for semisubmersibles is expected to rise from 141 to 167 units while the marketed supply remains inelastic from 152 to 153. Even as uti- lization levels approach full capacity, global demand for the mobile offshore drilling units shows no sign of slowing down. The DSS-51 rig is designed to be maintenance-friendly with safety fea- tures suited for both exploration and development drilling.

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