Written by
Nick Blenkey
Picture: BOEM
Yesterday’s Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gasoline Lease Sale 261 generated $382,168,507 in excessive bids for 311 tracts masking 1.7 million acres in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. A complete of 26 corporations participated within the lease sale, submitting 352 bids totaling $441,896,332.
The $382 million complete of the profitable bids was considerably up on the $252 million in profitable bids reached within the earlier sale in March 2023.
Clearly the U.S. Gulf of Mexico remains to be prime oil and fuel actual property. However there are massive questions on future entry to it.
Yesterday’s sale was held solely as a result of Congress mandated it below the Inflation Discount Act. Except Congress acts once more, below BOEM’s simply launched ultimate 2024–2029 Nationwide Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gasoline Leasing Program, there is not going to be one other Gulf oil and fuel sale till 2025.
“Regardless of coverage headwinds, at the moment’s sale generated the best bid quantity in almost a decade, demonstrating that our business is working to satisfy rising demand and investing within the nation’s long-term power safety,” stated the American Petroleum Institute’s vp of upstream coverage, Holly Hopkins. “Simply as at the moment’s file U.S. manufacturing was supported by funding and coverage selections made years in the past, new leasing alternatives are important for sustaining American power management for many years to return. Though at the moment’s congressionally mandated lease sale is a optimistic step after a number of delays, the shortage of any offshore gross sales within the yr forward is a chief instance of the administration’s failure to implement a long-term power technique. We urge the administration to rethink its shortsighted strategy and plan at the moment for tomorrow’s power demand.”
The Nationwide Ocean Trade Affiliation appears to have given up on urging the administration to rethink its strategy. It desires congressional motion.
In a press release following yesterday’s sale, NOIA president Erik Milito stated: “We urge Congress to promptly act on and move the quite a few bicameral and bipartisan payments that improve predictability and certainty for American offshore power leasing. Laws just like the Offshore Power Safety Act and its Home companion, the BRIDGE Manufacturing Act, supplies important options to fortify our nation’s power outlook.”
