If you are interested in how oil leases work and how the Biden Administration is standing in the way of US production, check out these links, it’s the stuff you will not hear in the MSM.
Some highlights.
- Many leases are held up in litigation by environmental groups. Western Energy Alliance is in court defending over 2,200 leases, most of which cannot be developed while those cases wind their way through the courts.
- Companies must put together a complete leasehold before moving forward, particularly with the long laterals that can cut across multiple leases. Sometimes a new lease is needed to combine with existing leases to make a full unit. Since the Biden leasing ban remains in effect with no onshore lease sales held since 2020, some leases are held up waiting for new leases or for the government to combine them into a formal unit.
- The administration has worked with anti-oil-and-gas activists to slow pipeline infrastructure. Without pipelines to move the oil and natural gas produced, wells cannot be developed.
- The Biden Administration has embarked on an agenda of regulatory overreach with extensive new regulations in the works. The uncertainty of all the new red tape puts a damper on new investment and development today, especially on federal lands where the burden is highest. Consequently, companies prioritize their nonfederal leases because there’s less regulatory risk.
Here is another article describing in detail how oil leases work.
Story on how Biden shut down drilling over climate change.
Biden’s Fossil Fuel Leasing Pause Is Bold Climate Action
Biden’s Biggest Climate Change Move: Signaling That Fossil Fuels Are Not The Future
