Obama Administration Opens Up Oil and Gas Development and Exploration in Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic and Arctic

The Obama Administration will expand oil and gas development and exploration on the US Outer Continental Shelf, while protecting fisheries, tourism, and places off US coasts that are not appropriate for development.

The Administration’s strategy calls for expanded development and production throughout the Gulf of Mexico, including resource-rich areas of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico that are currently under Congressional moratorium and closed to development; increasing oil and gas exploration in frontier areas, such as the Arctic Ocean and the Mid and South Atlantic Ocean; and protecting ocean areas that are too special to drill, such as Alaska’s Bristol Bay.

In an appearance at Andrews Air Force Base with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, President Obama outlined more details of his Administration’s efforts to strengthen our energy security, including the announcement of the opening up of offshore development and production of oil and gas, noting that:

I want to emphasize that this announcement is part of a broader strategy that will move us from an economy that runs on fossil fuels and foreign oil to one that relies on homegrown fuels and clean energy. And the only way this transition will succeed is if it strengthens our economy in the short term and the long term. To fail to recognize this reality would be a mistake.

The strategy will guide the current 2007-2012 offshore oil and gas leasing program, which was written by the previous administration but found by the courts last year to be legally flawed, as well as the new 2012-2017 program that this administration will propose.

The plan we are proposing calls for 4 more lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico by 2012 and, in the years beyond, would open up two-thirds of the oil and gas resources in the Eastern Gulf while protecting Florida’s coast and critical military training areas. Our efforts to strategically open new areas in the Eastern Gulf would represent the largest expansion of our nation’s available offshore oil and gas supplies in three decades.

—Secretary Salazar

The Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service estimates that the Gulf of Mexico contains 36-41.5 billion barrels of undiscovered, economically recoverable oil and 161-207 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, economically recoverable natural gas resources.

Additionally, by 2012, Interior plans to hold two lease sales—one 50 miles off the coast of Virginia and one in the Cook Inlet in Alaska—provided there is interest from industry; that development can be done in an environmentally responsible manner; and that development does not compromise critical military training in the Atlantic.

Interior will also expand oil and gas exploration in frontier areas, such as the Arctic Ocean and areas in the Atlantic Ocean, to gather the information necessary to develop resources appropriately. Because the potential oil and gas resources and the benefits and risks of developing OCS frontier areas are not sufficiently known, the Administration plan calls for seismic exploration in the Mid and South Atlantic OCS to support conventional and renewable energy planning.

The Administration strategy supports exploratory drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas in the Arctic Ocean, which could begin as early as this summer, to develop critical information. Secretary Salazar has also asked the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to assess what information is known and what is not known about resources, risks, and environmental sensitivities in Arctic areas.

In addition, Interior will gather scientific information, conduct environmental scoping, and hold public meetings to determine which other OCS areas may be appropriate for leasing under the 2012-2017 program