Several oil and gas groups have reacted to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) release of a proposed final 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.
In a statement posted on its website, the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) President and CEO Mike Sommers said, “this restrictive offshore leasing program is the latest tactic in a coordinated strategy to reduce energy production, ultimately weakening America’s energy dominance, limiting consumers access to affordable reliable energy, and compromising our ability to lead on the global stage”.
“For decades, we’ve strived for energy security and this administration keeps trying to give it away,” he added.
“At a time when inflation runs rampant across the country, the Biden administration is choosing failed energy policies that are adding to the pain Americans are feeling at the pump,” Sommers noted in the statement.
In a statement posted on its site, the Independent Petroleum Association of America’s (IPAA) President and CEO Jeff Eshelman said the group was “disappointed by the content of the Biden administration’s offshore five-year leasing program”.
“It’s clear that the Biden administration has chosen to align its policy decisions with environmental activists rather than put the best interest of American consumers first,” Eshelman said in the statement.
“A plan with only three leases in five years will not only hamper American production but jeopardizes our energy security and will result in hundreds of millions of dollars of lost revenue to coastal states and the federal treasury,” he added.
“The sad truth is that this plan will force the U.S. to get oil from other nations rather than develop American resources by American companies,” Eshelman continued.
In a statement posted on the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) website, the group’s President, Erik Milito, said, “the release of this U.S. offshore leasing program, mandated by law and long overdue, is an utter failure for the country”.
“President Biden’s approach to severely limit leasing significantly curtails access to a critical national asset at a time when energy inflation is rampant, the likelihood of a national recession looms, and global efforts are intensifying to curb greenhouse gas emissions,” he added.
“The White House simply ignores our energy realities, once again limiting U.S. energy production opportunities. With global demand at record levels and continuing to rise, regressive policies like this serve to harm Americans of all walks of life by putting upward pressure on prices at the pump, destroying good-paying jobs that form the fabric of Gulf Coast communities, and relinquishing geopolitical advantages of energy production to countries like Russia, Iran, and China,” Milito continued.
“Furthermore, the decision to postpone environmental analyses for individual lease sales needlessly compounds the erosion of long-term confidence and certainty in the Gulf of Mexico region. Environmental assessments for lease sales typically take one to two years to complete, which is precisely why they are conventionally carried out in tandem with leasing program development,” he went on to state.
In the statement, Milito also said policies that limit domestic offshore development “force us to rely more on energy imports, often from countries with higher emissions”.
“This jeopardizes our energy security, and economic prosperity, and undermines our efforts to reduce emissions and combat climate change – goals purportedly championed by the current administration,” he added.
In a statement sent to Rigzone, Louisiana Oil and Gas Association (LOGA) President Mike Moncla said, “as predictable as it is, it is still disappointing to see that the Biden administration’s war on the oil and gas industry rages on”.
“The Inflation Reduction Act promised us anywhere from zero to eleven offshore lease sales. Now, they’re only committing to three for the next five years. This will curtail discoveries for years to come. Adding to that, BOEM (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) implemented another hurdle in the programmatic environmental impact study that is sure to add future delays,” he added.
“This action will negatively impact Louisiana jobs and diminish GOMESA funds that are rebuilding our coast. The Gulf of Mexico provides 15 percent of our nation’s oil. These attempts to slow, or halt offshore production hurts all Americans at the pump, and makes us more dependent on foreign oil,” he continued.
“The reality is that worldwide demand for oil and gas is at record levels and our products will continue to be necessary for decades to come,” Moncla went on to state.
Rigzone asked the DOI, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the White House for comment on the API, IPAA, NOIA, and LOGA statements.
A White House spokesperson told Rigzone, “the president is committed to lowering prices at the pump for Americans and maintaining a stable and secure energy supply, while delivering on the most ambitious climate agenda in history”.
“The president is not holding back U.S. energy production – there remain thousands of approved but unused federal permits, and U.S. production remains strong,” the spokesperson added.
“At the same time, recent price volatility only underscores the urgency of building out sources of clean energy – as President Biden and Congressional Democrats have done – to reduce the influence of the decisions of foreign countries that don’t share our values,” the spokesperson continued.
Rigzone has not yet received a response from the DOI or the DOE at the time of writing.
Proposed Final Program
In a statement posted on its site on September 29, the DOI announced that, “consistent with the requirements of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) concerning offshore conventional and renewable energy leasing”, it had released the proposed final program and final programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) for the 2024 – 2029 national outer continental shelf oil and gas leasing program.
The DOI revealed in the statement that the proposed final program includes a maximum of three potential oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico Program Area scheduled in 2025, 2027 and 2029.
“In compliance with the terms of the IRA, these three proposed lease sales are the minimum number that will enable the Interior Department to continue to expand its offshore wind leasing program through 2030,” the DOI said in the statement.
“The reduction of the next National OCS Program to a maximum of three potential lease sales will bring the Federal offshore oil and gas program in line with the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 and meet the IRA’s requirements for future offshore renewable energy leasing,” it added.
“The areas considered for leasing and number of potential lease sales in the 2024-2029 proposed final program have been significantly narrowed from the previous administration’s original proposal of 47 lease sales off all coastal areas in the U.S. over a five-year period. The previous proposal presented risks to local coastal economies – particularly for communities along the east and west coast where offshore oil and gas development has not been authorized in decades, if ever,” it continued.
“The Biden-Harris administration is committed to building a clean energy future that ensures America’s energy independence,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said in the statement.
“The proposed final program, which represents the smallest number of oil and gas lease sales in history, sets a course for the department to support the growing offshore wind industry and protect against the potential for environmental damage and adverse impacts to coastal communities,” Haaland added.
In the statement, the DOI highlighted that the IRA does not allow the BOEM to issue a lease for offshore wind development unless the agency has offered at least 60 million acres for oil and gas leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf in the previous year.
The DOI also noted that, before finalizing the new national OCS Program, BOEM “carefully considered the more than 760,000 comments received in response to the proposed program and draft programmatic EIS”.
Publication of the proposed final program and final programmatic EIS in the Federal Register will initiate a 60-day waiting period that is required before the Secretary can formally approve the program and finalize the record of decision, the DOI said in the statement.
“BOEM will also publish a Call for Information and Nominations (Call) regarding the potential future Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sales included in the 2024–2029 National OCS Program in the Federal Register,” the DOI added.
“The publication of the Call will initiate a 30-day comment period, during which BOEM will seek comments from industry on interest in the areas proposed for leasing, including nominations or indications of interest in specific lease blocks within the area; and from additional parties regarding geological, environmental, biological, archaeological and socioeconomic conditions, use conflicts, or other information that could affect potential leasing and development,” it continued.
“Information submitted in response to the Gulf of Mexico Call will be used to help determine which blocks within the Gulf of Mexico Program Area may be offered for leasing, prioritize areas with greater potential for oil and gas development, develop potential lease terms and conditions, identify potential use conflicts and mitigation measures, and assist in BOEM’s planning and environmental review process,” it went on to state.
BOEM will also publish a notice of intent to prepare a programmatic EIS in the Federal Register, to analyze the potential impacts of a representative lease sale in the GOM during the 2024 – 2029 National OCS Program, as well as ongoing and potential associated site and activity-specific oil- and gas-related activity approvals, the DOI said in the statement.
