US inches toward offshore Gulf of Mexico lease sales
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Dec. 6 moved closer to holding more offshore Gulf of Mexico federal oil and gas lease sales by issuing a draft programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) of potential acreage.
The programmatic EIS will inform what acreage BOEM offers in sales scheduled for 2025, 2027, and 2029. The 2025 sale would mark the federal government’s first Gulf of Mexico sale since 2023 and its first in the 2024-2029 lease program.
The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act prohibited the agency from issuing offshore wind development leases unless the agency had offered at least 60 million areas for oil and gas leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf in the previous year.
BOEM said the act “significantly reduced the number of oil and gas lease sales from past leasing programs,” which the agency said would “enable the United States to meet its energy needs and continue the rapid and accelerating transition to clean energy.”
The oil industry has blasted the Biden administration for limiting the number of federal oil and gas sales, pushing them to the end of the program, and failing to offer leases in Atlantic, Pacific, and Alaskan water.
Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, urged Congress and the incoming Trump administration “to reassess the limited schedule of only three lease sales in the current offshore program and take steps to restore our leasing program.”
BOEM will use the programmatic EIS to support post-lease site and activity-specific OCS oil and gas related analyses and approvals.
Cathy Landry | Washington Correspondent
Cathy Landry has worked over 20 years as a journalist, including 17 years as an energy reporter with Platts News Service (now S&P Global) in Washington and London.
She has served as a wire-service reporter, general news and sports reporter for local newspapers and a feature writer for association and company publications.
Cathy has deep public policy experience, having worked 15 years in Washington energy circles.
She earned a master’s degree in government from The Johns Hopkins University and studied newspaper journalism and psychology at Syracuse University.
