Outgoing Interior Secretary opened the sale in New Orleans
A nearly 39 million-acre oil and gas lease sale in the central Gulf of Mexico has drawn $1.2 billion in high bids by offshore energy producers.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management says 52 companies Wednesday submitted 407 bids on 320 tracts, three to 230 miles off the coasts of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi.
The tracts, covering more than 1.7 million acres, are in water depths of nine to more than 11,115 feet.
BOEM estimates the sale could lead to the production of up to 890 million barrels of oil and 3.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar opened the sale before visiting Louisiana's Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge to see the progress of a marsh restoration project.
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