Trump’s Alaska Oil, Gas Lease Auction Draws Just Two Bidders (1)

Only two bidders participated in the Trump administration’s auction for drilling leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as big oil companies sat out the sale.

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state agency, and Anchorage-based Hex Energy were the sole entrants in the auction for nearly 690,000 acres of oil and gas drilling rights. It was the Interior Department’s first lease sale in the refuge since lifting drilling restrictions imposed by former President Joe Biden.

It was a key test of the oil industry’s appetite to drill in the rugged frozen tundra, long prized for its ...