The Interior Department is offering more than 81 million offshore acres for oil and gas leasing Wednesday in the third of 30 sales required under President Donald Trump’s 2025 tax and spending law.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Trump administration is putting more than 81 million acres of federal waters in the Gulf of America up for oil and gas leasing Wednesday, continuing a congressionally mandated series of offshore auctions aimed at expanding domestic energy production.
The Interior Department will make 15,100 currently unleased blocks available across the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. The tracts are located from 3 miles to 231 miles offshore, with water depths ranging from approximately 9 feet to more than 11,100 feet, according to a government document describing the sale.
Wednesday’s auction is the third of 30 offshore lease sales required under President Donald Trump’s tax cut and spending legislation enacted in 2025. It is also the second auction conducted since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran disrupted international crude supplies and pushed oil prices to four-year highs.
Initial bidding indicates companies are competing for only a small portion of the acreage being made available.
According to a pre-sale document released Tuesday, 12 companies submitted 69 bids covering approximately 330,000 acres. That represents about 0.4% of the roughly 81 million acres offered in the body of water Trump renamed the Gulf of America by executive order.
The amount of industry interest and the value of winning bids have varied substantially across the lease sales already conducted under the 2025 law.
The second auction, held in March, attracted nearly $47 million in high bids covering 25 blocks and approximately 141,000 acres.
That total was substantially below the first mandated auction in December, which produced $279.4 million in high bids.
Offshore drilling remains an important component of U.S. petroleum production, accounting for approximately 15% of domestic output. Development in offshore fields, however, has trailed production growth from onshore shale formations in recent years because offshore projects typically require larger initial investments and significantly longer development timelines.
The administration’s schedule of recurring lease sales is intended to keep federal offshore acreage regularly available to oil and gas producers as it pursues increased domestic production.
Bids submitted for Wednesday’s auction will be opened and read publicly through a livestream.
The sale will be administered by the Marine Minerals Administration, an agency created by the Trump administration by combining the functions of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
The newly consolidated agency will oversee the latest auction as companies compete for drilling rights across selected portions of the 81 million acres being offered in federal Gulf waters.
Original article
Comments