Oil Industry Sees Ongoing Leasing Pause in New Biden Gulf Plan

A “de facto moratorium” on offshore oil and gas leasing is taking hold over the next several months while the Biden administration considers its options for a proposed five-year leasing plan for the Gulf of Mexico, an oil and gas industry attorney said.

But the industry has little legal recourse because the remedy would be for a court to order the Interior Department to do what it’s already doing—take steps to finalize the new five-year plan, said Jason Hill, counsel at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP in Houston, who represents industry clients.

Interior is proposing as many as 11 lease sales ...