BOEM Publishes Oil and Gas Lease Sale Info in Federal Register
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has published a proposed notice of sale of leases set aside for oil and gas development in Cook Inlet, Alaska.
In passing the Inflation Reduction Act this past summer, Congress directed the bureau, an agency of the Department of the Interior, to conduct the sale, officially, “Lease Sale 258,” by Dec. 31, 2022.
The announcement of the impending sale was published in the Federal Register on Thursday.
The agency is proposing to offer up to 224 blocks toward the northern part of the Cook Inlet Planning Area, covering approximately 1.09 million acres of seafloor.
The area extends roughly from Kalgin Island in the north to Augustine Island in the south, in water depths ranging from 33 to 260 feet.
BOEM released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Lease Sale 258 in October 2021, and a final EIS and Record of Decision will be published later this fall.
A Final Notice of Sale will be published at least 30 days prior to the date of the sale, the agency said.
In related news, the agency announced earlier this month that it had accepted 307 highest valid bids from Lease Sale 257 in the Gulf of Mexico, totaling $189,888,271.
BOEM had originally held the lease sale in November 2021, but a federal judge invalidated the results in February of this year.
Leases resulting from this sale include stipulations to protect biologically sensitive resources, mitigate potential adverse effects on protected species, and avoid potential ocean user conflicts.
All terms and conditions for the sale are detailed in the Final Notice of Sale information package, which is located here.
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