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

. The proposed scoping will consider the Gulf of Mexico, much of the Atlantic OCS and include the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off Alaska. No further lease sales in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas will be held under the 2007-2012 program.

According to MMS estimates, 39-63 billion barrels of economically recoverable oil and 168-294 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are economically recoverable from the eight planning areas under consideration for leasing under the 2012-2017 program. That represents as much as 80% of the undiscovered economically recoverable oil and gas on the US outer continental shelf.

In addition to expanding oil and gas development and exploration on the OCS, the Administration’s plan calls for the protection of special areas like Bristol Bay, in Alaska. President Obama is withdrawing Bristol Bay from consideration for oil and gas development through 2017. In addition, the Administration’s strategy does not propose potential exploration or development in areas near California, Oregon, and Washington or in the North Atlantic.

American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard called the announcement of the Interior Department’s Five-Year Plan by President Obama and Secretary Salazar “a positive development.”