BLM plows ahead with oil lease sales despite tepid interest

Friday, August 28, 2020

Pumpjack and flare in New Mexico's Permian Basin | Blake Thornberry

The Trump administration resumed oil and gas lease sales this week, with drillers showing far less interest in purchasing thousands of acres in New Mexico. Companies bid an average of $169 per acre, down sharply from $1,389 per acre in the previous lease sale held in February, and well below the $5,500 per acre average of New Mexico leases sold under the Trump administration.

The oil and gas industry is struggling mightily in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, which has lowered demand and prices. In the Permian, drilling rig counts have plummeted to 127, down from more than 400 in March.

Despite the lack of industry interest and lack of a fair return for taxpayers, Interior Secretary Bernhardt and the Bureau of Land Management are plowing ahead with major lease sales across the West. This week the agency announced it plans to hold the first oil and gas lease sale in California since 2013.

                            Quick hits
                        

BLM holds first oil and gas lease sale since start of pandemic, draws tepid interest

Reuters

BLM plans first California oil and gas lease sale in seven years

Reuters

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                            Quote of the day
                        

To name someone to act as Park Service Director who does not even work in the Service is a real mindblower. With the enactment of the Great American Outdoors Act the National Park Service should have even greater prominence, but it has been reduced to a secondary bureau in David Bernhardt’s back office.”

—Peter Jenkins, Senior Counsel of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility

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Sonoran Desert Tortoise
Bureau of Land Management

Center for Western Priorities

1999 Broadway

Suite 520

Denver, CO 80202

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