Natural gas and oil lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) should continue, but there’s room for wind development, as well as carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), according to exploration and production (E&P) companies. 

Both supporters and opponents of federal leasing in the offshore made their comments on the national leasing program, published late last month, following a request by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The Biden administration’s 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program was finalized last year. It has scheduled one auction each for 2025, 2027 and 2029. 

BOEM is using Area Identification, or Area ID, to develop a recommendation for the areas when considering leasing and...