The U.S. Interior Department’s Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sales on Wednesday reaped a record $3.7 billion - the highest amount ever in a U.S. government lease sale - as oil prices hovered above $100 a barrel, the Minerals Management Service said.
Flush with cash from record crude prices, short on reserves replacement ratios [...]
Groups in Alaska have sued the U.S. Interior Department to block an offshore oil and gas lease sale that residents say threatens Arctic marine wildlife and the traditional Inupiat Eskimo way of life.
The North Slope Borough and the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage on Tuesday, claim [...]
Money from federal oil and gas lease sales is repairing McKenzie County roads and helping maintain its seven school districts, which have a total of about 760 students.
“We don’t expect to see this kind of money again, not in the near future, anyway,” county auditor Frances Olson says.
The year is ending on a high note [...]
State persuades U.S. to evaluate possible damage to coast by drilling
The federal government has agreed to postpone a planned oil and gas lease sale scheduled for March to give regulators more time to assess the effects of drilling activity on Louisiana’s fragile coastline.
The Interior Department, as part of an out-of-court settlement with the state of [...]
Earnings from the State Land Office’s monthly oil and gas lease sales jumped 12 percent in July compared to June, from $5.829 million to $6.517 million.
On July 19, Commissioner of Public Lands Patrick H. Lyons announced that 41 tracts covering 12,717 acres of trust lands were offered during the July auction, and all 41 tracts [...]
Gov. Kathleen Blanco on Wednesday upped the ante in her offensive to get billions of dollars from offshore oil and natural gas royalties for Louisiana, formally objecting to an August sale of federal drilling leases off the state’s coast.
Backing up months of rhetoric, Blanco said she sent a letter opposing the sale to the U.S. [...]
