Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke Tuesday said his department is proposing the largest oil and gas lease sale ever held in the U.S.
The proposed region-wide lease sale covers 77 million acres in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
The sale is scheduled for March and includes all available unleased areas on the Gulf’s Outer Continental Shelf, the department said.
“In today’s low-price energy environment, providing the offshore industry access to the maximum amount of opportunities possible is part of our strategy to spur local and regional economic dynamism and job creation and a pillar of President Trump’s plan to make the United States energy dominant,” Zinke said. “And the economic terms proposed for this sale include a range of incentives to encourage diligent development and ensure a fair return to taxpayers.”
The sale is part of the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2017-2022, a five-year program whose terms were established by the Obama administration.
That program scheduled 11 potential lease sales; 10 in the Gulf of Mexico and one in the Cook Inlet of Alaska. This is the second offshore sale that is moving forward under the plan.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management estimates that offshore resources in the Gulf contain more than 48 billion barrels of oil and 141 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
“In order to strengthen America’s energy dominance, we must anticipate and plan for our needs for decades to come,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “The administration’s decision to move forward with the largest offshore lease sale in our nation’s history is a key part of that effort. Whether in Alaska or the Gulf of Mexico, we should all support responsible development because it creates high-paying jobs, strengthens national security, and keeps energy affordable for our families and businesses.”
The Trump administration in June submitted for public comment its own five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing. But it said the old program would continue to be followed until the new program is finalized.
