The Biden administration on Thursday said it would hold an auction of oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico on Nov. 8 following a court order to expand the sale.
In a statement, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said the sale would offer about 72.7 million acres on the Outer Continental Shelf, including 6 million acres it had withdrawn from the auction in an effort to protect the endangered Rice's whale habitat.
Last month, a U.S. appeals court gave the administration until Nov. 8 to hold the sale, which was originally scheduled for Sept. 27. That followed a federal judge's ruling ordering an expansion of the sale in a lawsuit brought by oil and gas companies.
The November sale is likely to be the last federal offshore oil and gas auction until 2025, according to a five year schedule the government unveiled last week that includes a historically low number of planned lease sales.
(Reuters - Reporting by Nichola Groom/Editing by Chris Reese)