Bureau of Ocean Energy Management June 10, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This Notice extends the post-sale evaluation period for the Gulf of Mexico, Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Lease Sale 254 (Sale 254) by an additional 30 days. BOEM will complete the post- sale evaluation process for all bids received at Sale 254 by July 16, 2020. This extension is necessary due to operational constraints for the employees located in the BOEM New Orleans office resulting from health and safety concerns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to current hardware and software infrastructure limitations, BOEM staff are unable to perform geophysical subsurface interpretation while teleworking from their homes. Additional in-office work is still necessary to complete the post-sale evaluation process for these bids. Louisiana has been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 virus. The two most affected Louisiana parishes are Orleans and Jefferson Parishes, where the BOEM office building is located and most of the employees reside. In consideration of these factors, precautions and preventive measures were taken to keep all employees working from the safety of their homes until conditions improve.