Biden Shut Down Pipelines and Leases For Independent Oil Producers, Now Opens Up Off Shore Drilling To Big Oil

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) held a lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday for oil and gas drilling rights. Why did the Biden administration hold an auction for fossil fuel drilling, on the heels of COP26, where countries agreed to “phase down” fossil fuels

Gulf of Mexico oil drilling lease sale

The lease sale generated $192 million in high bids from 33 companies, including ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, and Chevron for 308 tracts covering 1.7 million acres – 2,700 square miles – in federal waters, according to BOEM.

The Associated Press notes, “It marked the largest acreage and second-highest bid total since Gulf-wide bidding resumed in 2017.”