The Biden administration continued its first sale Thursday of oil and gas drilling rights on federal land in Oklahoma and 7 other states following weakness industry response at the start of the sales on Wednesday.
Oklahoma has only a few lease availabilities compared to such states as New Mexico, Wyoming and Colorado. Wyoming has an estimated 90% of the acreage that is available for oil and gas prospecting while other leases are available in Colorado, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Utah.
Reuters reported the opening day of bidding on Wednesday resulted in faint response from the oil and gas industry. Environmental groups also filed two lawsuits in an attempt to stop the sales of the leases.
Nearly 120,000 acres in Wyoming were put up for bid Wednesday and more than a third of the 105 parcels of land received no bids reported EnergyNet, the online auction platform. The high bids generated $12.5 million and $8.9 million was for a single Converse County tract of 1,480 acres.
Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, told Reuters the lack of response by the industry was because Biden administration policies made oil and gas development more difficult on federal lands.
“After observing new obstacles to federal development, including the leasing ban and litigation, companies may have decided it’s just not worth the additional time, cost, and risk,” stated Sgamma.
Source: Reuters