Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered his offshore energy bureau to conduct the first offshore oil and gas sale of the second Trump administration.
The sale was already planned this year by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, as it was originally scheduled by the Biden administration. It will be the first offshore energy auction in the Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump renamed the Gulf of America, by this Trump administration.
“Unlike under President Biden, we will not leave our critical energy resources locked up when so many Americans are suffering through the unnecessarily high cost of living imposed by the previous administration,” Burgum said in a statement. “Unleashing America’s energy resources will lower prices at the pump, at the grocery store and across all aspects of American life while strengthening our national security.”
The Biden administration slowed down the pace of offshore lease auctions, as part of a larger effort to reduce the footprint of oil and gas development on federal lands and waters. It canceled several sales, although it was later forced to conduct the sales in a deal with Congress.
