The Biden administration doesn't anticipate selling offshore drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico through at least October 2023, effectively stretching a delay in that activity to a third year, according to economic projections included in its newly released budget proposal.
The numbers show expected revenues from offshore oil auction bids and annual rental payments on existing leases are set to plummet in fiscal 2023 by about $370.4 million to just $25 million.
Based on the revenue projections in the Biden budget, there could be at least a three-year gap in the sale of new offshore oil and gas leases, said Erik Milito, the head of the National Ocean Industries Association.
In practical terms, the delay could mean forfeiting hundreds of millions of dollars in federal revenue annually and eventually shrink oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.
Under a court order, the Interior Department sold oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico last November, but a federal judge later invalidated the auction, after finding regulators did not fully analyze its climate impacts.
Environmentalists have pushed the Biden administration to stop selling offshore oil and gas rights entirely, arguing that the activity would worsen the climate crisis.
Biden temporarily halted government oil auctions last year to study the environmental consequences of the activity, before a federal judge ordered the administration to resume sales.
https://worldoil.com/news/2022/3/29/biden-signals-third-year-of-offshore-oil-leasing-delay-in-gulf/
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