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Norton Releases Proposed Five-Year OCS Leasing Plan
Expected to replace the current program expiring at the end of June, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton said last week that the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) is proposing to schedule 20 lease sales in eight outer continental shelf (OCS) planning areas in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Alaska as part of a new five-year leasing program. The proposed sale areas are in the Gulf of Mexico’s western, central and parts of the eastern planning areas, as well as Alaska’s Beaufort Sea, Norton Basin, Cook Inlet/Shelikof Strait and the Chukchi Sea/Hope Basin.
Norton said the plan will now be submitted to Congress for review. After a period of 60 days, she may finalize the new program, which would then take effect on July 1, 2002.
“We must ensure a vibrant economy and energy security for our children and grandchildren,” Norton said. “This five-year plan will increase domestic production in an environmentally sensitive way while providing thousands of jobs.”
Under the terms of the program, the lease will make available 10.2 billion to 21.5 billion boe and 40 to 60.6 Tcf of gas. MMS said the amount of oil is enough to meet the country’s transportation needs for two to five years. It is also enough gas to heat, cool and run appliances for every home in America for two-to-three years. The OCS currently provides about 25% of the total oil and natural gas produced in the United States. New technology has opened up new areas for offshore drilling in the past decade, resulting in 35 rigs that are currently exploring water depths of more than 1,000 feet.
“The United States depends on oil and gas for about 60% of our energy, and this percentage is expected to increase to more than 66% by 2020,” Norton said. “We must use new technologies and American ingenuity to develop reserves of domestic oil and gas on the outer continental shelf in a way that protects our environment.”
The MMS said the most recent proposal is the third and final proposal required to be presented before a new leasing program can be implemented. The previous two proposals were issued in July and October 2001 (see NGI, July 23, 2001).
The proposed final program carries forward the provisions of the previous two proposals with one adjustment. The two lease sales in the Chukchi Sea/Hope Basin area of Alaska has been adjusted to convert those sales to the “special” category that was originally developed for the Norton Basin Planning Area. The MMS said it would issue a request for interest in May 2002, and a sale would only proceed if there is significant industry interest. The same procedures would be followed annually until one or both proposed sales are held, or the program for 2002-2007 ends.
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