The Trump administration will hold an auction for drilling oil and gas off the U.S. Gulf next month and has proposed another in a waterway in southern Alaska, it said on Friday.
The lease sale in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump refers to as the Gulf of America, will make about 80 million acres available. The sale, which will take place on December 10, will be the first of 30 sales in the region through 2040 that were included in Trump's tax law which he signed in July.
The Gulf's offshore continental shelf spans roughly 160 million acres, with an estimated 29.59 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 54.84 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), an office of the Interior Department, also proposed to make about 1 million acres available for leasing in Alaska's Cook Inlet. The sale, scheduled for March 4 next year, would be the first of at least six Cook Inlet lease sales required by the law, scheduled annually from 2026 to 2028, and from 2030 to 2032.
To encourage strong industry participation, BOEM has set a 12.5% royalty rate—the lowest rate allowed by statute—for both shallow and deepwater leases.
The sales align with Trump's policy of maximizing oil, gas and coal output while slashing regulations on fossil fuels and subsidies for green energy.
"BOEM is now moving forward with a predictable, congressionally mandated leasing schedule that will support offshore oil and gas development for decades to come," Matt Giacona, acting director of the office, said in a statement.
BOEM has set a 12.5% royalty rate, the lowest rate allowed, for both shallow and deepwater leases in both places "to encourage strong industry participation."
(Reuters and staff)