The Trump administration plans to sell 77.3 million acres offshore of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida for oil and gas development next month in what is being called the largest oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history.
The sale is scheduled for Wednesday, March 21, and will include all available unleashed areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Money received from the leases are directed to the U.S. Treasury, Gulf Coast states, Land and Water Conservation Fund, and Historic Preservation Fund. The sale supports President Donald Trump’s America First Offshore Energy Strategy, which seeks to reduce energy imports and boost jobs in the industry, the Interior Department says.
The sale is the second offshore lease sale under the under the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2017-2022. It includes about 14,776 unleashed blocks, located from three to 231 miles offshore and in water depths ranging from nine to more than 11,115 feet. Reuters reports this first attracted little interest from oil and gas companies.
