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Article: Bids for US offshore drilling rights plummet
- Article from:
- AP Worldstream
- Article date:
- March 18, 2009
- Author:
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Winning bids for offshore drilling rights in the central Gulf of Mexico fell by more than 80 percent compared with last year, another example of how vastly the energy landscape has been altered during the global economic downturn.
Energy companies bid $703 million on Wednesday for the right to explore for fossil fuels in the Gulf, compared with last year's $3.67 billion in winning bids, a record set with oil prices well above $100 per barrel.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar insisted that the reduced bidding still represents great interest in developing oil and natural gas off the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
The administration last month said it wanted to ...