Oil producers signal the landfall on the last auction in the Gulf of Mexico

   509

This is almost seven times more than a year ago, as their return to the exploration of deep waters gained momentum.

This compared with $18 million in high bids at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) Outer Continental Shelf auction last summer.

Winners will be announced after a 90-day review.

Some producers have signaled that they expect Gulf of Mexico projects to become more profitable now that they have trimmed operations to adapt to low oil prices. Offshore drilling typically requires higher prices for producers to break even.

Royal Dutch Shell claimed the largest number of blocks, with 19 high bids valued at a combined $25.1 million. Chevron Corp followed with 15 high bids totaling $27.9 million. Anadarko Petroleum Corp won 10 blocks for $10.6 million. Exxon Mobil Corp took seven blocks of land for $20.4 million.

The auction offered 14,177 blocks totaling 75.9 million acres, but only 508,000 received bids, according to the BOEM. This year's auction covered Western, Central and Eastern areas of the gulf. The year-earlier auction was only for the Western region.

The sale offered nearly 76 million acres of land off the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

Wednesday's sale was the first of 10 planned as part of the new Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2017 to 2022.

U.S. benchmark oil prices have persisted below $ 50 per barrel for most of this year, despite efforts by world producers to limit production and raise prices.