The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) says it will offer about 1.09 million acres in the Cook Inlet, offshore Alaska’s south central coast in a lease sale scheduled for next month.
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Map of the 224 areas included in the Cook Inlet Lease Sale 244. Map from BOEM. |
The Cook Inlet Oil & Gas Lease Sale 244, scheduled for 21 June, will offer 224 blocks toward the northern part of the federal Cook Inlet Planning Area for leasing. The blocks stretch from Kalgin Island in the north to Augustine Island in the south.
“We conducted a robust environmental analysis and look forward to holding Alaska’s first OCS lease sale since 2008,” says Dr. Walter Cruickshank, BOEM’s acting director. “The areas offered for leasing represent a careful balance between jobs, energy development, and natural resource protection.”
The lease sale will be entirely broadcast live on the internet, with the live stream beginning at 9 a.m. Alaska time. Bid reading is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
The lease sale is the 13th and final OCS lease sale under the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (Five-Year Program). Together, these lease sales have netted more than US$3 billion for American taxpayers.
Last month, US President Donald Trump signed executive orders to increase domestic energy production in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Planning area including the Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, Cook Inlet, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and parts of the Gulf of Mexico. The executive order went against President Obama’s memorandum banning the areas from mineral extraction.
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Cook Inlet lease sale announced
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