US To Auction 78Mln Acres In Gulf Of Mexico To Oil, Gas Drillers - Interior Dept.

Offshore oil and gas drilling leases for 78 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico will go on sale in a February 18 auction as part of President Donald Trump's "America first" energy policy, the Interior Department said in a press release on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2020) Offshore oil and gas drilling leases for 78 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico will go on sale in a February 18 auction as part of President Donald Trump's "America first" energy policy, the Interior Department said in a press release on Tuesday.

"In support of President Trump's America-First Offshore Energy Strategy, US Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt announced today that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will offer over 78 million acres for a region-wide lease sale scheduled for March 18, 2020. The sale would include all available unleased areas in Federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico," the release said.

The release said the auction was being held in support of President Donald Trump's "America-First Offshore Energy Strategy."

"Record domestic offshore oil and gas production in 2019 has played a vital role in President Trump's vision for American energy independence," Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in the release.

The Gulf of Mexico outer continental shelf, covering about 160 million acres, is estimated to contain about 48 billion barrels of undiscovered, oil and 141 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered gas, according to the release.