Lease Sale

The Biden administration said it would resume oil and gas lease sales on federal lands and waters in order to comply with a court ruling. However, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) said late Monday it is simultaneously appealing the Louisiana-based court’s decision, and if it wins on appeal, it could again suspend leasing…

The U.S. Interior Department ceased new oil and gas lease sales on federal lands and offshore through at least June as officials this week extended a review of the program’s impact on climate change. Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) said it is “exercising its discretion to not hold lease sales” through the second quarter.…

The long prospective Walker Ridge in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) drew a bid of nearly $12 million on Wednesday in the final federal oil and gas auction of the year. The bid of $11,999,979 for Walker Ridge Block 365 was made jointly by Repsol E&P USA Inc. and Equinor Gulf of Mexico LLC,…

The Trump administration on Monday began a formal push that possibly could allow oil and natural gas leases to be auctioned in Alaska’s pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) before Joseph R. Biden Jr. is sworn into office in January. According to a preliminary notice in the Federal Register to be published on Tuesday, the…

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) said Tuesday it is seeking public comment for a proposed quarterly oil and gas lease sale in March for Utah’s Green River District.

Riding the Permian Basin boom, New Mexico took in another $5.4 million from oil and natural gas lease sales on state lands, bringing its fiscal year (FY) 2018 total to more than $102 million, Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn reported this week.

An oil and natural gas lease sale conducted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Utah office received bids on 53,763 acres of nearly 93,946 acres offered, drawing total estimated receipts of $5.95 million. BLM sold 49 of 74 parcels offered in the Green River District. Fort Worth, TX-based Lonesome Oil and Gas LLC submitted the high per-acre bid at $2,021 and the highest total bid at $2.88 million.

Warburg Pincus-backed Rubicon Oilfield International Holdings LP, based in Houston, has snapped up Calgary-based World Oil Tools Inc. for an undisclosed amount to expand its downhole completions business. World Oil, established in 2000, makes specialty inflatable products and technology used in completions, and it works in North America’s unconventional basins, overseas and offshore. The deal would add inflatable packers, external casing packers and drill-stem testing technology to Rubicon’s portfolio. Formed in 2015, Rubicon designs, manufactures and sells/rents downhole oilfield products in more than 50 countries. Since its formation it has acquired other downhole products businesses including Tercel Oilfield Products, Top-Co Holdings and Logan International.