NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The federal government is offering about 45 million acres for oil and gas leases in the central and eastern Gulf of Mexico at sales on March 23.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management says the Central lease sale covers 44.3 million acres off of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, at depths ranging from nine feet to more than 2 miles under water.
The Eastern area offers about 595,500 acres of waterbottom that are at least 125 miles off of eastern Alabama and western Florida.
Low oil prices have limited interest in recent gulf lease sales. The government received 195 bids on 169 tracts in the central area last March, down from 380 a year earlier and more than 500 in previous years. That was the lowest since 129 bids in 1986.
