The Interior Department is set to auction off more than 20,000 acres across one of the U.S.’s most prolific crude-producing regions Wednesday, months after a lease sale there shattered the record as the highest-grossing onshore sale ever.
Oil and gas producers will bid Wednesday on 26 parcels in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, which are being offered with lower royalty rates and loosened regulations set by Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The total acreage is smaller than the May auction that raised more than $4 billion, but it includes untapped parts of the Permian Basin coveted by oil companies.
An oil industry official said companies are anticipating another strong result, even if it doesn’t eclipse the eye-popping numbers from May. “We have very low-risk geology. We know where the resources are — we know what we’re going to go get,” the official said, adding that it could supplement declines in other parts of the basin.
While leasing is not a direct indicator of production, the official said high oil prices and the Trump administration’s expedited permitting processes could mean the acres leased Wednesday are producing crude within 18 months to two years.
