EDITOR’S LETTER

The lease sale generated $191.6 million in high bids, but now that’s up in the air.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/ Mike Mareen

What’s Next for Offshore Oil & Gas?

In a ruling last month in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Judge Rudolph Contreras invalidated the Department of Interior’s decision to offer 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas leasing.

The court held that the Interior failed to accurately disclose and consider the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) that would result from the sale, violating an environmental law.

Turn to page 14 of this issue to learn more about the history of the Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 257, which generated $191.6 million in high bids.

And now comes the fall out, which should be no surprise to anyone.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) expressed its disappointment in a statement, saying that it urged “the administration to implement policies that encourage continued leasing and development in the Gulf of Mexico.”

The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) said that invalidation of the lease sale may “only strengthen the geopolitical influence of higher emitting—and adversarial—nations, such as Russia.”

When we talked to Erik Milito, president of NOIA, about other implications this ruling could have on offshore, he said that it will disrupt companies who are investing in carbon capture and storage in the Gulf of Mexico—an innovative technology designed to address climate crisis.

He said that President Biden has asked OPEC plus to put more oil on the market, validating what BOEM has said in the past: If you don’t produce the oil here, it will get produced somewhere else.

“Producing oil here will translate into less GHG because of the efficiencies in the Gulf of Mexico in producing and transporting oil to Gulf Coast refineries, as opposed to bringing it by tanker from all over the world,” said Milito. “It’s an odd situation, where the president is asking OPEC, and even Russia, to produce more. We are importing oil at almost record levels from Russia at a time of ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine.”

Milito said he hopes an appeal on the judge’s ruling will be made and the lease sale can continue. It is unclear if the Department of the Interior will defend the lease sale through an appeal, but API and Louisiana can likely do that as interveners in the case.

HEATHER ERVIN

Editor-in-Chief hervin@sbpub.com

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MARINELOG

FEBRUARY 2022 VOL. 127, NO. 2

ISSN 08970491 USPS 576-910

SUBSCRIPTIONS: +1 (402) 346-4740

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PRESIDENT Arthur J. McGinnis, Jr. amcginnis@sbpub.com

PUBLISHER Gary Lynch glynch@sbpub.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Heather Ervin hervin@sbpub.com

SENIOR EDITORIAL CONSULTANT Nicholas Blenkey nblenkey@sbpub.com

ART DIRECTOR Nicole D’Antona ndantona@sbpub.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Hillary Coleman hcoleman@sbpub.com

MARKETING DIRECTOR Erica Hayes ehayes@sbpub.com

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Mary Conyers mconyers@sbpub.com

SALES MANAGER David Harkey dharkey@sbpub.com

SALES REPRESENTATIVE KOREA & CHINA Young-Seoh Chinn corres1@jesmedia.com

CLASSIFIED SALES Frank Rose frose@sbpub.com

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Maureen Cooney mcooney@sbpub.com

CONFERENCE DIRECTOR Michelle M. Zolkos mzolkos@sbpub.com

CONFERENCE ASSISTANT Stephanie Rodriguez srodriguez@sbpub.com

CONTRIBUTORS Emily Reiblein Crowley Maritime Corporation Tracy Zea Waterways Council Inc.

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