Monday, August 5, 2024

Is there now interest in leasing offshore wind energy off the coast of southeast Texas?

Happy Monday and welcome back to another week of ESC News Blog.

We ran into something interesting catching up on our emails which is in line with a blog we wrote back at the end of August 2023.   We wrote about the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) first Gulf of Mexico’s wind lease auction, and the modest interest they received for the tracts they offered; please check it out, if you are interested to learn about the lease auction.

Did anyone happen to receive the News Release from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on July 26, 2024, their news release titled, “BOEM Announces Next Steps for Offshore Wind in Gulf of Mexico”?  In the news release it speaks about the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) had unconventional request from Hecate Energy Gulf Wind LLC (Hecate Energy) concerning the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of southeast Texas for a lease to set up offshore wind.  The BOEM had previously acknowledge the tracts requested as possible areas for offshore Wind Energy Areas (WEA) back in 2021.  The areas of interest include WEA Option C has 74,113 acres; WEA Option D has 68,239 acres the two areas would have a total of 142,352 acres.    Due to the interest for this acreage the BOEM is obliged by the OCS Lands Act to post a Request for Competitive Interest (RFCI) and needs to pursue comments and feedback on the possible interest of other parties to this offshore acreage; the RFCI was posted at the end of July 2024.  Depending on what happens in the RFCI the BOEM will move to either lease to Hecate Energy, or they will move forward with an offshore wind lease auction open to all qualified companies at a later time.  If you would like to read more of the BOEM’s news release, please click the link: BOEM Announces Next Steps for Offshore Wind in Gulf of Mexico | Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

If you would like to more information on the BOEM’s RFCI; please click the link: Regulations.gov.

If you would like information on the BOEM’s activities for the Gulf of Mexico; please click the link: Gulf of Mexico Activities | Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (boem.gov)

If you would like help in looking into how to transport your liquid product efficiently and with less of a carbon footprint, contact us via the email in the blog and check out our ESC's website!

We hope you have a wonderful evening and a great week!

**Disclaimer: Please see the New Release from the BOEM for exact information. **