By Meagan Clark - BP Plc. (NYSE: BP) is back bidding on drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico not far from the site where its Macondo deepwater well blew out and killed 11 people and created the biggest oilo spill in U.S. history.
The EPA and BP agreed earlier this month to lift a 16-month suspension from federal contracts that had blocked the British energy giant BP from bidding during the previous three auctions in the area.
The company joins 41 other oil and gas companies Wednesday morning in New Orleans to bid in the Department of the Interior’s high-stakes sale of tracts.
Eight of BP’s 13 bids are for blocks near the site of Macondo well that exploded in April 2010, which killed 11 workers and spilled millions of barrels of oil into the ocean.
During the last central Gulf sale in March 2013, the sale’s highest bid was $81.8 million, offered by Statoil and Samson. High bids totaled $1.2 billion.
Most of the 380 bids filed before the auction are for deep-water territory, according to pre-sale figures released by the Department of Interior. In March 2013, 52 companies filed 407 bids.
The auction was scheduled for 10 am EST but was then delayed about two hours.
Other big oil and gas companies to bid include ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (NYSE: RDS.A).