The Bureau of Land Management pulled in almost $327 million from a lease sale on Tuesday, which included the highest oil and gas bid for an acre of land recorded since at least 1987.
BLM, which is part of the Interior Department, leased 31 parcels in New Mexico and Oklahoma for more than $326.8 million.
“This sale brought in over $218,751 for a single acre, the highest ever earned during a BLM competitive oil and gas lease sale since at least the 1987 Leasing Reform Act and shows the bureau’s ongoing commitment” to fulfill President Donald Trump’s “mandate to unleash American energy,” said acting BLM Director Bill Groffy in a statement.
As part of its effort to boost U.S. oil and gas production, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress slashed federal onshore royalty rates — or the portions of money that drillers earn from their oil that is paid to the federal government.
