The Trump administration plans to auction offshore drilling rights across roughly half of the Gulf of Mexico next month, the first of 30 such lease sales in the area.
Roughly 80 million acres across the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump re-named the Gulf of America, will be available under the sale being held December 10, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said in the notice Friday. The agency said it was setting the lowest royalty rate permitted - 12.5%- “to encourage strong industry participation.”
The lease sales are required under President