Despite tough industry conditions, bidding that emerged in the latest lease shows the U.S. Gulf of Mexico remains good energy acreage, the government said. Only three companies emerged with bids totaling $18 million and they took up only a fraction of the 23.8 million acres on the auction block. Abigail Ross Hopper, the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said even that amount of interest in a weakened energy market was a success. “Though this sale reflects today’s market conditions and industry’s current development strategy, the bidding confirms that there is continued interest in the deepwater areas of the Gulf of Mexico,” she said in a statement. The government estimates the range of economically […]