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BLM Eastern States Office To Hold First On-line Oil and Gas Lease Sale

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Bureau of Land Management

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National Office

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The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Eastern States Office will hold a September online-only oil and gas lease sale, inaugurating an internet-based auction system using EnergyNet. The sale will be conducted on Thursday, September 20, by online bidding only at https://www.energynet.com. Beginning at 9:30 a.m. EST, each parcel will have its own unique open bidding period, with the bidding process itself expected to last a total of three hours. 
 
The BLM list of parcels for this sale currently identifies 14 parcels available for lease in Kentucky and Mississippi, totaling 4,398 acres of Federal mineral estate.  Thirteen parcels (4,214.48 acres) are located in the Homochitto and Bienville National Forests in Mississippi and one parcel (184 acres) is underlying Army Corps of Engineers-managed lands in Kentucky. 
 
The authority to conduct onshore oil and gas leases through internet-based bidding methods was provided by the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act and BLM pilot tested the system last year. The upcoming sale marks the beginning of a phase-in for internet-based leasing using the EnergyNet system for BLM oil and gas lease sales. A number of state governments use EnergyNet for online sales of state parcels. 
 

The auction Website is open to everyone; however, you must register as a bidder on the Website before the sale in order to submit bids for any individual parcel. The auction website is active and available for registration and will remain available for viewing until the completion of the auction.  The website contains detailed information about the bidding process.

For more details about the online bidding process and to view the parcel list, please see the sale notice at http://www.blm.gov/es/st/en/prog/minerals/current_sales_and.html.

The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.