May 12, 2022 IPAA Statement on Cancelled Offshore Lease Sales
WASHINGTON – IPAA COO Jeff Eshelman issued the following statement in response to the Department of Interior’s announcement late Wednesday of the cancellation of remaining offshore oil and gas lease sales for the year. This included a planned sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet and lease sales 259 and 261 in the Gulf of Mexico region.
“The Biden Administration’s national energy strategy is not strategic, and it doesn’t benefit the nation. What it does do is drive energy costs up, puts our national security at risk and further pushes the nation into high inflation and a failing economy. Ignoring the benefits of American natural gas and oil production is misguided and potentially against the law. The administration is not even trying to apply a band-aid to our energy challenges. They are just letting consumers and the nation bleed.
“The Administration has not given any timeline for when we can expect the next five-year-plan for offshore development to be released, as the current plan expires at the end of next month. After expiration, we enter limbo-land without assurance on the future of offshore development. It is unreasonable to expect that America’s natural gas and oil producers will put financial and concrete resources towards future offshore development without a clear signal on where this Administration is headed.”
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