- Oil companies are still bidding for more blocks despite near 50 % drop in crude price since last summer. Big oil companies chased for share in gild of Mexico that was up for leases on 18th March.
- However the amount captured in lease were far less than previous. Lease sale generated $539 million in total high bids and $583 million in all offer placed. It is the lowest amount in at least a decade and far lower than last year's $851 million for similar sell.
- Mergers, buyout and acquisition of new fields remain attractive when the price is hovering at such a low. However rising tensions in Middle East and today's strike by Saudi Arabia over Yemen militia pushing the oil price higher.
- Brent is trading at $58.7/barrel. However a reversal is unlikely as supply still remains at large. Oil companies continued to chase select acreage for pricey sums in Central Gulf of Mexico on March 18 despite low oil prices, even though the total amounts captured in the lease sale were far less than in recent years.
Analogy -
- Lower crude prices have pushed the stock prices of the companies operating in the segment much lower. However larger companies are expected to ride through the current storm. So the stocks might hold value.
- However, since the oil companies usually take longer view when betting to acquire assets bid size shows, lot of pessimism is running within.


Who should own the knowledge that underpins AI technology?
Gold Slides to $4,262 as Hawkish Fed Rate Hike Triggers Technical Breakdown
What is Zionism? The different meanings of a contested term
China’s robots can run faster than Usain Bolt – now they are being prepared for war
Synthetic data could ease people’s concerns about privacy breaches. But who gets to create it?
Goldman Sachs Forecasts Fed Rate Hike as Inflation Risks Rise
Physicists zoom into the birth of cosmic rainstorms with new CERN study
Europe can’t achieve space sovereignty alone. Here’s why 



