Trump to Auction Oil, Gas Drilling Rights Across Gulf Next Month
(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration plans to auction offshore drilling rights across roughly half of the Gulf of Mexico next month, the first of 30 such lease sales in the area.
Roughly 80 million acres across the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump re-named the Gulf of America, will be available under the sale being held December 10, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said in the notice Friday. The agency said it was setting the lowest royalty rate permitted - 12.5%- “to encourage strong industry participation.”
The lease sales are required under President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, signed into law over the summer.
In all, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act mandates 36 sales of offshore oil and gas drilling rights, including 30 in the Gulf as well as at least six to be held in Alaska’s Cook Inlet. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said in the notice Friday it planned to make about 1 million acres available in the Cook Inlet area for a lease sale planned for March 4, 2026.
The administration in the coming weeks is set to unveil a draft of a broader plan laying out a schedule of oil and gas right sales over a five-year schedule.
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