Oil and gas companies today submitted $1.7 billion in winning bids during a federal offshore drilling-rights auction, the first in the central Gulf of Mexico since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and oil spill.

The largest bid came from Statoil, which offered $157 million for a single lease, the largest high bid since the federal government began areawide leasing in 1983.

"This is a record-breaking oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico," said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

A total of 454 tracts were up for grabs in today's auction. BP PLC was slated to win the rights to drill in 43 blocks after bidding $428.6 million in high bids. Other major oil companies also took home dozens of winning bids. ConocoPhillips Co. and its partners pledged $100 million for 24 high bids. Chevron Corp. and its partners had 29 high bids totaling $321 million. And Exxon Mobil Corp. bid $382 million on 22 high bids. Spanish oil firm Repsol SA, which recently led drilling efforts on a well in Cuban waters that came up dry, bid $255.9 million on five high bids.

The high bids were a result of accumulated demand, recent discoveries in the Gulf and high oil prices earlier in the year. But today's sale isn't the largest moneymaker in central Gulf history. According to Interior, the top-grossing lease sale was in 2008 when companies pledged $3.7 billion in high bids. The last auction just before the oil spill in 2010 brought in $949 million in high bids.

"The Gulf is back. There is great robustness in oil and gas activity currently under way in the Gulf, as well as interest in additional exploration," Salazar said.

Republican lawmakers have accused President Obama of taking too much credit for the success of the sale, blasting the administration's move to merge the sale of tracts originally scheduled for a canceled 2011 sale with the current auction. The Interior Department, however, said it put off last year's sale in order to factor the Deepwater Horizon disaster into required environmental reviews.

Meanwhile, environmentalists said the high reported bids indicated the bar for energy companies to drill in the Gulf is still too low.

"Safety requirements have not been improved enough to prevent another spill," said Jacqueline Savitz of advocacy group Oceana. "This greedy rush to expand offshore drilling sets us up for another disastrous oil spill" (Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Fuel Fix, June 20). -- WW