IADC Responds to Administration’s SPR Announcement and BOEM’s Updates on Lease Sales 258 & 259
For Immediate Release
Houston (24 October 2022) – On 19 October, the Biden Administration announced that the Department of Energy will release an additional 15 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). This action demonstrates the imperative need for ensuring vital energy resources are accessible for consumers in North America and around the world.
The following day, 20 October, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced next steps for offshore oil and gas lease sales directed by the Inflation Reduction Act. On its website, BOEM has announced a Proposed Notice of Sale for Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil & Gas Lease Sale 259. The Proposed Notice of Sale 259 states, “BOEM proposes to hold GOM Lease Sale 259 at 9:00 am [Central time] on Wednesday, March 29, 2023.”
In the announcement, BOEM also provides information regarding a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which analyzes the potential impacts of Cook Inlet OCS Oil & Gas Lease Sale 258. According to the announcement, “In the Inflation Reduction Act, Congress directed BOEM to hold Lease Sale 258 by the end of the year.”
In response to both the Biden Administration’s announcement regarding the SPR and BOEM’s announcement regarding lease sales 258 and 259, IADC President Jason McFarland issued the following statement:
“With the Administration having sold over 32 percent of the SPR’s 714-million-barrel reserves, the nation’s emergency crude stockpile is now at its lowest level since 1984. In this context, the urgency for increasing offshore exploration and production in the United States cannot be overstated. Signaling a sincere commitment to stabilizing global energy markets via increased domestic offshore hydrocarbon production would bring much needed certainty to tenuous global energy markets. IADC strongly encourages BOEM and the Biden Administration to complete its administrative pre-lease obligations in the most forthright and responsive manner possible, with an emphasis on increasing responsible domestic offshore production.”
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The International Association Drilling Contractors (IADC) is a non-profit trade association that is the global leader in advancing and promoting innovative technology and safe practices that bring oil and gas to the world’s consumers. More information.
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