The US Department of the Interior today (Tuesday) announced details of a proposed oil and gas leasing program for 2017-2022.
US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell (pictured, right, with President Obama) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper said the draft proposed program includes 14 potential lease sales in eight planning areas – 10 sales in the Gulf of Mexico, three offshore Alaska, and one in a portion of the Mid- and South Atlantic. Areas off the Pacific coast are not included in the draft proposal.
Jewell said the proposal, which was informed by over 500,000 public comments, makes nearly 80% of undiscovered technically recoverable resources available while protecting other sensitive areas.
“The draft proposal prioritizes development in the Gulf of Mexico, which is rich in resources and has well-established infrastructure to support offshore oil and gas programs,” Jewell said. “We continue to consider oil and gas exploration in the Arctic and propose for further consideration a new area in the Atlantic Ocean, and we are committed to gathering the necessary science and information to develop resources the right way and in the right places. We look forward to continuing to hear from the public as we work to finalize the proposal.”
The DOI said that the proposal includes a regionally tailored approach.
In the Gulf of Mexico, the proposal includes two annual lease sales in the Western, Central, and the portion of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico that is not subject to Congressional moratoria. This shifts from the traditional approach of one sale in the Western and a separate sale in the Central Gulf each year, the agency said.
“This new approach will allow for BOEM to more effectively balance the sales while providing greater flexibility to industry to invest in the Gulf, particularly given the significant energy reforms recently adopted by the Mexican government,” said BOEM Director Hopper.
Offshore Alaska, the draft proposal proposes one sale each in the Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, and Cook Inlet areas. However, President Obama designated portions of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas off limits from consideration in future oil and gas leasing sales using the OCS Lands Act.
Four of the five areas withdrawn by President Obama were previously excluded from leasing in the current 2012-2017 oil and gas program; three of the five were also excluded by the prior administration. Those areas include the Barrow and Kaktovik whaling areas in the Beaufort Sea, and a 25mi. coastal buffer and subsistence areas in the Chukchi Sea. The withdrawal also includes the biologically rich Hanna Shoal area in the Chukchi Sea, which has not previously been excluded from leasing.
DOI said that the proposed Alaska sales would be scheduled late in the program.
Because of this stipulation, US Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), criticized President Obama and the DOI’s draft program saying that there is no guarantee those sales will ever be held.
“This administration is determined to shut down oil and gas production in Alaska’s federal areas – and this offshore plan is yet another example of their short-sighted thinking,” said Murkowski, the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “The president’s indefinite withdrawal of broad areas of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas is the same unilateral approach this administration is taking in placing restrictions on the vast energy resources in ANWR and the NPR-A.”
Murkowski continued: “This administration is once again promising Alaskans that it will allow exploration sometime in the future – but not right now,” Murkowski said. “They promised Alaska multiple lease sales under the current five-year plan, but so far there have been none, as sales continue to be postponed even past when the president will no longer be in office. Promises will not fill the trans-Alaska pipeline."
In regards to the Mid- and South Atlantic OCS, the draft is seeking public comment on a potential lease sale late in the program, which could include areas offshore Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia.
The potential lease sale would require a 50mi. coastal buffer to minimize multiple use conflicts, such as those from Department of Defense and NASA activities, renewable energy activities, commercial and recreational fishing.
National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) President Randall Luthi also criticized the draft proposal for not doing enough to secure America’s long term energy security.
“Our members are encouraged by the decision to further analyze the Mid- and South Atlantic areas, which have not been included in a leasing program for over two generations,” Luthi said. “In fact, over 85% of the outer continental shelf has been shuttered to exploration for decades, so the consideration of new areas in the Atlantic is a step in the right direction.
“However,” Luthi continued, “We remain disappointed that more areas that are currently off-limits were taken off the table for consideration as part of this five-year program, and that the total number of lease sales has been reduced from the previous program rather than increased. We are also concerned by additional restrictions in the plan, like the 50mi. buffer zone off the Atlantic.”
Industry advocates the American Petroleum Institute (API) similarly criticized the draft proposal saying it shows “a disappointing lack of commitment to ensuring America’s position as a world leader in energy.”
“The administration is compromising our ability to compete globally by restricting so much of the nation’s oil and natural gas resources,” said API Director of Upstream Erik Milito. “The draft offshore leasing program proposed today completely ignores areas where oil and natural gas development could create more than half a million new American jobs and generate hundreds of billions of dollars for the government.
He continued: “While considering the Atlantic for potential development is a good step, the administration’s proposal represents the bare minimum for potentially opening that area by including only a single lease sale six years from now.”
US House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Michigan) also weighed in on the proposal, saying it doesn't go far enough.
"Too many of our nation’s energy resources remain under lock and key, and the (Obama) administration is working to make it even more difficult to access some areas that are currently available," Upton said.
One industry body pleased by the proposed program is the International Association of Geophysical Contractors (IAGC). The organization's president, Ken Wells, praised the proposed plan for including the Atlantic OCS.
"This decision increases the urgency to move forward with seismic and other geological and geophysical (G&G) surveys in the Atlantic OCS," Wells said. "IAGC strongly urges the (Obama) Administration to act quickly and efficiently to process the survey permits pending since last July when BOEM authorized G&G exploration in the Mid- and South Atlantic OCS.
"These G&G surveys will identify areas that may hold recoverable oil and gas reserves and areas that may not, and will enable leaders to make informed decisions on how to best utilize these resources to ensure the nation’s future energy security," he said. "Our members are encouraged by Secretary Jewell’s interest in ‘learning more about the resource potential’ in the Atlantic OCS, underscoring the need for the expeditious collection of new geophysical data in this area.”
Image: US Department of the Interior
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