On 19 November 2025, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced its second offshore oil and gas lease sale, scheduled for 11 March 2026. This comes less than a month before the first lease sale on 10 December 2025. Both sales are part of 30 planned lease sales through 2040 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The March sale will offer approximately 15,000 blocks covering about 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America, located 3 to 231 miles offshore. The Federal Register Notice was published on 20 November.
The U.S. outer continental shelf holds an estimated 30 billion barrels of undiscovered oil and 55 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. These resources can help meet growing global energy demand while providing economic and environmental benefits. IADC supports and welcomes this significant increase in offshore activity.
