The Trump administration’s first oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s virtually untouched wildlife refuge secured less than 10 bids from just two companies, indicating that businesses are hesitant to develop resources there.The Interior Department‘s Bureau of Land Management held its first lease sale under the second Trump administration for the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Friday afternoon, garnering nine bids on five tracts of land across more than 70,000 acres. Just two companies accounted for the nine bids: natural gas producer Hex Energy LLC and the state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. Both companies successfully bid, with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority as the highest bidder in securing three tracts.
Overall, the lease sale generated more than $6 million, with the total high bids for successful bidders exceeding $3 million. Half of this will go toward the state of Alaska by law, officials said.
This total is far smaller than the amount collected by a similar lease sale held in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska in March, which garnered a quarter of a billion dollars.
“While the history of this area is long on policy, a new era of active leasing and exploration is just beginning to unfold,” Kevin Pendergast, the state director for BLM in Alaska, said following the bid readings. “We look forward to learning more about the subsurface of the area as leaseholders pursue exploration and ultimately to the next phase, when, like the NRP-A to the west, this area’s full potential begins to be revealed and responsible development takes shape.”
