Federal regulators have firmed up plans to put more than 20 million acres off the coast of Texas up for bid to offshore energy producers next month.
The Obama administration says the lease sale will be held Nov. 28 in New Orleans.
The Times-Picayune reports the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which regulates offshore drilling, estimates that the proposed sale could lead to the production of 116 to 200 million barrels of oil and 538 to 938 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
The lease sale is one of two the federal government has scheduled in the coming months. In the central Gulf, regulators will put 38 million acres located off the coasts of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi up for bid in March.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
