The Sale of Onshore Oil and Gas Leases Brings Hope to Wyoming

September 3, 2021

After months of delays, President Biden is finally listening to the ruling of a federal judge and allowing the sale of oil and gas leases on federal lands. The first onshore lease sale since December is set to take place by early 2022. This comes as welcome news to energy-rich states like Wyoming.

The Laramie Boomerang reports:

With nearly half of the state’s land owned by the federal government, Wyoming tops the potential lease count. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is considering 459 parcels of Wyoming land, totaling more than 568,000 acres, or 887 square miles, for the upcoming lease sale.

The selling of oil and gas leases has the opportunity to bring in economic growth and opportunity for the state of Wyoming. The Petroleum Association of Wyoming discusses the BLM announcement.

“We are encouraged by the fact that the BLM is complying with the federal judiciary ruling, and are just hopeful that we’ll continue to see progress moving forward with the oil and gas leasing program,” said Ryan McConnaughey, communications director for the Petroleum Association of Wyoming.

The Petroleum Association is part of an ongoing lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming that aims to force the BLM to resume lease sales more quickly and hold canceled sales retroactively to make up for lost state revenue.

Wyoming’s last lease sale, in December 2020, netted close to $7 million from bids on 181 parcels of land.”

The oil and gas industry has huge economic and job impacts in Wyoming. The Petroleum Association of Wyoming reports that in 2019 the industry employed around 20,000 workers and contributed $1.67 billion in state taxes. Clearly, this industry is vital to the state’s economy. The sale of new leases starting up again brings hope of new economic growth and more jobs throughout the state.