The Trump administration sold more than 400,000 acres (406,876 hectares) of land in Alaska's Cook Inlet on Wednesday, but no oil and gas drillers showed up. They refused to make a bid.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act of U.S. president Donald Trump, which was signed into law in 2017, mandates six Alaska offshore gas and oil auctions through 2032.
Trump has sought ways to increase domestic oil and gas production, including in Alaska, where the industry has seen a decline in recent decades. Drilling in Alaska and the Arctic is a high risk endeavor that involves decades of effort and billions of dollars.
The U.S. Bureau for Ocean Energy Management planned to?read bids via livestream on its website at 10:00 a.m. Alaskan time (1900 GMT). The bids were due one day earlier on March 3.
BOEM's website for the sale was updated instead to reflect the lack bids.
BOEM stated that "at this time, no bids were received." In accordance with OBBBA we will continue to offer leasing opportunities in Cook Inlet, so that the industry has a predictable, regular federal leasing program that helps us achieve President Trump's American Energy Dominance Agenda.
Cook Inlet is a 180-mile long channel that separates the Kenai Peninsula and the mainland.
In 2022, the last federal auction of Cook Inlet acreage attracted only a single bidder.
Hilcorp, a Houston-based company, owns eight active federal leases in Cook Inlet. The leases are not producing gas or oil.
(source: Reuters)
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