The Trump administration on Jan. 14 will offer the oil and gas industry a final chance to secure federal acreage before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, who has pledged to ban new drilling on public lands.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will auction 37 parcels on 6,851 acres in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas through the online auction site EnergyNet. Most of the parcels are in New Mexico, overlaying parts of the sprawling Permian Basin, the world's biggest oil field.
The auction will reveal the level of demand for new leases from an industry facing an uncertain future for drilling on federal lands, weak prices and depressed demand for fuel due to the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Federal drilling auctions, a critical part of President Donald Trump's "energy dominance" agenda to maximize domestic production of fossil fuels, have garnered increasingly weak interest this year due to the health crisis and the prospects of a new U.S. president keen to fight climate change.
Biden has said he would halt new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters, but he has not laid out a method or timeline for realizing that goal.
A study by the state of Wyoming last month found that such a ban would cost eight Western states $8.1 billion in tax revenue and $34.1 billion in investment in the next five years.
Auctions in Wyoming, Utah and other states last month attracted sparse bidding, and major oil companies failed to show up entirely for last week's first-ever sale of drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Environmental, community and taxpayer groups have criticized the administration for holding oil and gas lease sales at a time of low prices, saying they are not generating adequate returns.
"This lease sale is being conducted under an antiquated system, which prioritizes the bottom line of oil and gas companies instead of New Mexico taxpayers," James Jimenez, director of the non-profit New Mexico Voices for Children, said in a statement.
BLM spokesman Richard Packer said in a statement that the agency was required by law to hold quarterly lease sales and was "balancing safe and responsible natural resource development with conservation of important surface resources."
Recommended Reading
Sunoco’s $7B Acquisition of NuStar Evades Further FTC Scrutiny
2024-04-09 - The waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act for Sunoco’s pending acquisition of NuStar Energy has expired, bringing the deal one step closer to completion.
Genesis Energy Declares Quarterly Dividend
2024-04-11 - Genesis Energy declared a quarterly distribution for the quarter ended March 31 for both common and preferred units.
Tellurian Executive Chairman ‘Encouraged’ by Progress
2024-03-18 - Tellurian announced new personnel assignments as the company continues to recover from a turbulent 2023.
Mach Natural Resources Declares 4Q 2023 Distribution
2024-02-20 - Mach Natural Resource’s distribution is payable March 14 to common unitholders of record by Feb. 29.
Bobby Tudor on Capital Access and Oil, Gas Participation in the Energy Transition
2024-04-05 - Bobby Tudor, the founder and CEO of Artemis Energy Partners, says while public companies are generating cash, private equity firms in the upstream business are facing more difficulties raising new funds, in this Hart Energy Exclusive interview.