NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil companies bid on less than 1 percent of the parcels offered in a sweeping U.S. auction of Gulf of Mexico exploration leases on Wednesday, showing tepid interest in the region for the second time this year. A logo of Exxon Mobil is displayed on a monitor above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in New York, U.S., December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp was awarded 25 blocks, the largest of any company, followed by BP Plc with 19 high bids and Hess Corp and Equinor, which each had 16. Smaller companies, including Talos Energy Offshore, Houston Energy and W&T Offshore were among the top ten high bidders. In total, 23 companies bid in the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s auction. In all, there were $178 million worth of high bids, the agency […]