The US administration has conducted the first oil and gas lease sale for the Coastal Plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), which is estimated to contain up to 11.8 Gbl of oil. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has received bids on half of the 22 tracts offered and 50% of the acreage. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) secured nine tracts, while small independent companies, Knik Arm Services and Regenerate Alaska, won two. The AIDEA plans to partner with oil companies to develop the leases it won in the auction.
In addition, the Bureau of Land Management has released a new Integrated Activity Plan (IAP) for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), a 23 million-acre (9.3 million-hectare) swath of land on the western North Slope, which allows oil development on about 80% of the reserve. Previously, only about half of the reserve was available for leasing. The plan also permits lease sales to proceed under relaxed standards.
Do you want to become an expert on renewable energies auctions?
Discover our very detailed and regularly updated RES auctions database with worldwide coverage and a technical focus backed by academic research.
With our renewable energies auctions service you will be able to monitor auctions at a global level. Its (expanding) scope notably includes all major G20 countries and offers an especially fine tracking on Europe and South America.