Bidding for Gulf Oil Leases Begins in June

Bidding for nearly 100 million acres of offshore oil and gas leases off Louisiana and east Texas will begin in June in a sale similar to one offered by the Biden administration in April 2024. The U.S. Department of Interior announced April 4 that its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is offering oil and gas leases in “an area of approximately 17,518 whole and partial blocks covering approximately 94.1 million acres” in the Gulf of America. This is the same area—identified as Sale 262—the bureau offered in its December 2023 “2024-29 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program” and April 2024 “candidate areas” notice....