NorthAmOil: Biden’s oil, gas lease plan is evidence of his “failed” energy policies, says API

The administration of US President Joe Biden has unveiled a proposed five-year plan for offshore oil and gas auctions. And to no-one’s great surprise, it is not a plan with which the oil and gas sector is happy.

The 2024-2029 plan offers the fewest oil and gas leases in decades of history – just three are to be held, all in the Gulf of Mexico. And not one of them is in 2024.

The Biden administration's “failed” energy policies are adding to pain at the petrol pump, blasted the American Petroleum Institute (API), the nation’s main oil and gas lobbying group.

API president and CEO Mike Sommers expanded the statement: “At a time when inflation runs rampant across the country, the Biden administration is choosing failed energy policies that are adding to the pain Americans are feeling at the pump.

“This restrictive offshore leasing programme is the latest tactic in a coordinated strategy to reduce energy production, ultimately weakening America’s energy dominance, limiting consumers access to affordable reliable energy and compromising our ability to lead on the global stage,” he continued. “For decades, we’ve strived for energy security and this administration keeps trying to give it away.”

Since 1992, no such oil and gas leasing plan has contained fewer than 11 sales, and most have offered 15-20.