Houston (21 August)  -- BHP Billiton today announced that the company was the winning bidder on each of the 18 blocks it submitted bids on in the Outer Continental Shelf, Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 184, conducted today in New Orleans by the Minerals Management Service (MMS), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Completion of the sale is expected within the next few months, pending bid review and approval by the MMS.  BHP Billiton's share of the winning bids is valued at approximately US$4.9 million.  

Seventeen of the leases were purchased in a 50-50 partnership with Amerada Hess, the joint venture comprises Alaminos Canyon blocks 753, 796, 797, 805, 806, 840, 841, 846, 847, 849, 850, 884, 889, 890, 893, 927, and 928; Amerada Hess is the designated operator.  BHP Billiton also purchased a 100 percent working interest in Alaminos Canyon Block 939.  Water depths in the newly acquired acreage range from 3,000 to 6,000 feet.

“This purchase extends the company's Gulf of Mexico holdings to the western half of the Alaminos Canyon area, where the company has identified subsalt prospects along the Perdido Foldbelt. It is a lightly explored area,” explained Steve Bell, president of Deepwater Exploration and Appraisal.  “Our efforts in this new play area will form a logical extension of our recent exploration and appraisal successes in the Atwater Foldbelt in the Central Gulf of Mexico and is consistent with our deepwater and high-margin exploration growth strategy.”

All of the blocks BHP Billiton successfully bid on in Lease Sale 184 are eligible for deepwater royalty relief on oil and natural gas production as outlined by the MMS.  BHP Billiton is one of the leading leaseholders in the deepwater Central Gulf of Mexico, with interests in more than 250 blocks.