A commercial arrangement where the lessee (customer or borrower) will select/purchase an area offshore from the state or federal government to extract natural resources
US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Glossary - NOAA's State of the Coast (SOTC), Washington, DC, USA 2013. http://stateofthecoast.noaa.gov/glossary.html, (CoaStormEmr - Amer) {881}