U.S. to auction off oil, gas acreage in Gulf of Mexico

Acreage set for auction in the Gulf of Mexico may hold as much as 894 million barrels of oil and 3.9 trillion cubic feet of gas, the U.S. government said.

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Acting Director Walter Cruickshank announced more than 40 million acres off the southern U.S. coast will go on the auction block in March as part of a five-year lease program ending in 2017.

"As one of the most productive basins in the world, the Gulf of Mexico is a cornerstone of our domestic energy portfolio, offering vital oil and gas resources that further economic growth and continue to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," Cruickshank said in a Thursday statement.

BOEM estimates the lease area could yield between 460 million and 894 million barrels of oil and between 1.9 trillion and 3.9 trillion cubic feet of gas.

The last lease in the Gulf of Mexico in August drew criticism from environmental group Friends of Earth, which said the "addiction to fossil fuels threatens the health and vitality of the waters, wildlife and coastal communities in the Gulf of Mexico."

The first six lease sales under the five-year plan netted $2.4 billion.