NEW ORLEANS — In the first federal oil lease sale since the government said BP PLC can again get federal contracts, BP has bids on 31 tracts in the central Gulf of Mexico.
The sale is also the first since 2008 offering tracts in the eastern gulf, but nobody bid on any of those tracts.
A total of 42 companies bid on 326 blocks in the central gulf, and one company — Exxon Mobil Corp. — bid on three blocks in the western gulf.
The bids will be opened and read out starting at 9 a.m. CDT.
BP was suspended from new business with the federal government after it pleaded guilty in November 2012 to charges from the 2010 oil spill. The suspension was lifted Friday.
