(WO) – In response to a ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will publish its updated Final Notice of Sale (FNOS) for Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 261 in the Federal Register on Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. BOEM plans to conduct the lease sale on Nov. 8, 2023.

Lease Sale 261 will offer approximately 13,618 blocks on 72.7 million acres on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf in the Western, Central, and Eastern Planning Areas in the Gulf of Mexico. The court directed BOEM to include oil and gas lease blocks that were previously excluded due to “potential” impacts to the environment and to remove portions of a related stipulation meant to address those potential impacts from the lease terms for any leases that may result from the sale.

On Sept. 26, 2023, BOEM announced it would not hold Lease Sale 261 on Sept. 27, 2023, as originally planned due to the Court’s ruling the day before. The order provided BOEM additional time for a more orderly lease sale process.