By Yereth Rosen
"We do have, for the Alaska OCS, a record number of bids that were received," said John Goll, the Alaska director for the federal Minerals Management Service (MMS).
The MMS believes up to 15 billion barrels of recoverable oil reserves and 77 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas reserves lie beneath the Chukchi Sea, although the harsh Arctic weather and the long distance from existing infrastructure would make developing any finds costly.
Allegations that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deliberately delayed its final decision on the possible listing of the polar bear as an endangered species to ensure the sale was able to proceed have added further controversy.
In some of the early bidding, Shell, which has been an aggressive bidder for Arctic exploration acreage in recent bidding rounds, bid $51 million for a single block.
Further details from the lease sale were expected to emerge later on Wednesday.
