Twenty-two firms bid $124 million for leases.

The firms bid for oil and gas drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida, the Interior Department said. Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel said in a statement that the department had expected a total of only $60 million in high bids, “so the results are particularly encouraging.” The highest bid at the auction in New Orleans came from Amoco Corp.--$7.17 million for a tract off the Florida Panhandle near previous discoveries around Mobile Bay, the department said. In all, 114 bids totaling $155 million were submitted. The 82 tracts receiving bids cover 450,258 acres.