The Interior Department said Wednesday it had generated more than $4 billion in revenue in a major oil and gas lease sale across some of the nation’s most lucrative acres in the Southwest.
Interior’s Bureau of Land Management leased all 74 parcels it had put up for auction across parts of New Mexico and Texas, totaling 33,530 acres. The area offered is in the most prolific region for U.S. oil production that has continuously grown for nearly two decades. Winning bids and rental payments totaled $4,007,944,870, the department said.
The Trump administration has moved aggressively to try to boost oil and gas drilling in the United States, especially as the war in Iran crimps global supplies and raises prices. But with U.S. crude production already at record levels and future oil prices uncertain, the results have been mixed.
Wednesday’s sale continues a string of successful onshore auctions, including a record sale in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in March. But the administration has struggled to drum up industry interest in offshore acres, and companies already holding leases have largely spurned calls to ramp up drilling.
