U.S. Department of the Interior
Minerals Management Service
Office of Communications

SPECIAL INFORMATION

FOR RELEASE: January 16, 1997

CONTACT: Tom DeRocco
(202) 208-3985

OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF OIL AND GAS LEASING HISTORY
Quarterly as of 12/31/96

Alaska Atlantic GOM Pacific Total
Sales Held 18* 10* 77 11* 113*
Blocks Offered 26,023 9,160 182,334 1,887 219,404
Leases Issued 1,591 410 13,938 470 16,409
Active Leases 80 47 6,177 83 6,387
Active Acres Leased
(millions)
0.33 0.26 31.82 0.42 32.83
Wells drilled 81 49 33,240 1,131 34,501

The responsibility for administering the Atlantic leases rests with the Gulf of Mexico Region.

* Note that the reoffering Sale RS-2, held on August 5, 1982, offered oil and gas tracts on the Alaska, Atlantic, and Pacific OCS and is recorded as a separate sale within each of those Regions. However, Sale RS-2 is considered a single sale in the overall statistical summary on OCS leasing.

-MMS-

MMS Internet website address: http://www.mms.gov
24 hour Fax-on-Demand Service:(202) 219-1703