While it’s been a year since the last offshore oil and gas lease sale, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has moved toward holding one in 2025.
On 6 December 2024, BOEM announced it will publish a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for public comment. Publication of the draft statement will pave the way to holding an oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) next year, a step welcomed by the industry.
The GOM Regional Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Lease Sales Draft Programmatic EIS analyzes the potential effects of a lease sale in available OCS portions of the gulf.
According to the EIS’s executive summary, “In general, BOEM expects fewer new facilities across the GOM shelf and deepwater environment as a result of future OCS oil and gas leasing when compared to historical trends, with deepwater facilities yielding most of the oil production. Additionally, advances in upstream and downstream technology could potentially change the level of projected OCS oil- and gas-related activities for future OCS oil and gas lease sales and how they are conducted.”
Further, the executive summary stated, “It is reasonable to assume the future effects from the Cumulative OCS Oil and Gas Program would likely be similar to those in the past and under existing conditions.”
The executive summary also noted a single OCS lease sale would have “minor to moderate” economic benefit while canceling such would result in “minor to moderate adverse cumulative effects to the GOM’s long-term economic prospects, depending on how industry responds.”
BOEM said the programmatic EIS is expected to inform the decision for the first GOM oil and gas lease sale proposed in the leasing program and to be used and supplemented as appropriate for decisions on future proposed GOM lease sales. The programmatic EIS is also expected to support post-lease site- and activity-specific OCS oil and gas related analyses and approvals. BOEM said it will make the final programmatic EIS available to the public at least 30 days before the issuance of any decision.
According to the bureau’s website, the 742-page draft will be published on 13 December, which will kick off a 45-day public comment period that runs through 27 January 2025. BOEM has scheduled virtual informational meetings for 14–16 January. Public comments will be accepted during those meetings while written comments regarding BOEM-2023-0046 can be made at www.regulations.gov.
The final programmatic EIS is slated to publish in September 2025 with a record of decision expected in January 2026.
In a news release, National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) President Erik Milito welcomed the move toward the first Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sale of the 2024–29 offshore leasing program. He said it’s not just about having a lease sale in 2025 but also about affirming the region’s role in bolstering energy security and driving economic growth.
“While this advancement is welcome, we believe this process should have been initiated concurrently with the development of the full 2024–2029 leasing program to avoid delays in oil and gas leasing activities,” he said.
He also urged Congress and the incoming administration to reassess the limited schedule of three lease sales.
“A more robust schedule would better reflect the Gulf’s indispensable role in our energy landscape and support both energy development and environmental stewardship,” he said.
Background
Under the Biden administration, priority for offshore leasing was focused on wind rather than oil and gas activity, and fewer oil and gas sales were held over the past few years.
The most recent oil and gas GOM sale, Lease Sale 261, was in December 2023. It originally had been set for September 2023 before facing a series of delays and eventually drew $382 million in high bids from 26 companies. The previous buying opportunity, Lease Sale 259, drew $300 million in high bids from 32 companies.
BOEM conducted Lease Sales 259 and 261 as required by the US Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which stipulates the BOEM can only hold an offshore wind lease sale if in the preceding year it had offered at least 60 million acres for oil and gas leasing. Both were held despite the fact that the 2017–22 OCS leasing program had concluded and no new 5-year leasing plan had been put in place.
On 1 July 2022, a day after the 2017–22 OCS leasing plan lapsed, the US Department of the Interior released its proposed 5-year offshore oil and gas leasing plan for 2024–29, which would allow between zero and 11 sales to be held, to predictable industry concern.
On 15 December 2023, the DOI released the final 2024–29 leasing program, which permitted a single lease sale each in 2025, 2027, and 2029, all in the Gulf of Mexico.
“The reduction of the next National OCS Program to three lease sales meets the IRA’s requirements for future offshore renewable energy leasing. The areas considered for leasing and number of lease sales in the 2024–2029 Final Program have been significantly narrowed from the previous administration’s original proposal of 47 lease sales off all coastal areas in the United States,” the Interior Department stated at the time of the announcement.
