The Trump administration held its third offshore lease sale for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of America, drawing weaker bidding and less than a third of the revenue generated from the first auction last year.
The auction came at a crucial time for the administration as it faces growing pressure ahead of the midterm elections over soaring oil and gasoline prices, which have been driven up by the war in Iran. President Donald Trump had long called for increased domestic drilling before the war and has moved to remove regulatory hurdles for majors to increase U.S. supplies and exports.
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The sale generated more than $82 million in high bids from over a dozen companies and was the first held by the newly created Marine Minerals Administration, which merged the Bureau of Ocean Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
The sale had offered just over 15,000 unleased blocks in the western, central, and eastern areas of the Gulf, spanning roughly 80.4 million acres. The blocks ranged from 3 to 231 miles offshore, with depths reaching more than 11,115 feet.
Sixteen companies participated in the auction on Wednesday, submitting a total of 69 bids on 59 tracts spanning 330,000 acres — less than 1% of what was offered. Some of the highest bidders included oil majors such as Shell, Chevron, Equinor, and BP.
Wednesday’s lease sale is the third of 30 that are expected to take place through 2040, with two held each year in March and August. The auctions were mandated by Trump’s sweeping tax law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law July 2025.
The second lease sale held in March drew in nearly $47 million for 25 blocks, stretching across roughly 141,000 acres. While the third auction brought in nearly double that amount, it is still significantly lower than the $279.4 million generated during the first auction in December.
The most recent auction was also the first held for leases offshore since the Endangered Species Committee, led by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, voted to lift protections for endangered species in the Gulf region, exempting all oil and gas drilling activities in the region from Endangered Species Act requirements.
The decision, which was pushed for by the Pentagon in March, was the latest effort by the Trump administration to ease regulatory constraints on the oil and gas industry and fulfill Trump’s “Drill, baby, drill” agenda.
Ahead of the reading of the bids, Kate McGregor, deputy secretary of the Interior, touted how the administration has opened up pathways for increased drilling in the Gulf and in other federal waters, saying the industry has been “forced to navigate paralyzing uncertainty.”
“The industry was forced to accommodate changing priorities and delayed decisions, and an unpredictable leasing program that steered long-term investment away from our shores and away from our people,” McGregor said. “President Trump and Secretary Burgum are restoring certainty to these previously uncertain times.”
All three sales held so far have individually generated fewer bids than those received at the last Gulf sale held during the Biden administration. That auction, held in 2023, garnered 352 bids and raised $382 million. It was the largest oil auction in the region since 2015.
That sale, by itself, dwarfs the first three held under Trump’s second term, although the Biden administration had only ordered three lease sales to be held between 2024 and 2029. Under the new leasing schedule, that number triples.
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Regardless of how much Wednesday’s auction generated, the industry views the sale as a success.
“Today’s lease sale is about far more than today’s bids,” National Ocean Industries Association president Erik Milito said. “It’s about ensuring America has the energy it needs to keep prices affordable, strengthen national security, and power economic growth for decades to come.”
