U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed an order on July 6 tackling permitting backlogs and delays from federal oil and gas lease sales in what was called another move by the Trump administration toward “energy dominance.”
Aimed at the U.S. onshore energy program, the order directs the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to ensure that lease sales are conducted quarterly and to cut the review time for federal drilling permits to fewer than 30 days—down from the average 257 days in 2016.
Zinke said he hopes the order will remove some of the bureaucracy that has put a strain on the federal government’s relationship with the oil and gas industry.
“Certainly, we have not been a good partner,” Zinke told reporters during a media briefing. “When you talk to the industry across the board, there’s a reason why our energy revolution from 2008 forward has been primarily on public and state lands and not federal lands.”
Zinke said he expects the move to open up leasing opportunities mostly in areas where there are current oil and gas operations, such as the Permian Basin in New Mexico and Utah’s Uinta Basin. The Interior Department is also looking to open more of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, he said.
No national parks or forests are included in the order, Zinke said.
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The American Petroleum Institute (API) welcomed the order, which it expects will improve confidence and create jobs.
“We applaud the administration’s steps to help strengthen the United States’ energy position,” Erik Milito, API upstream and industry operations group director, said in a statement. “A key component of a successful policy is repairing the federal permitting process so that companies have the confidence to invest and see their projects move forward.”
U.S. production of natural gas on private and state lands was up 55% from 2010 to 2015, and crude oil production on private and state lands rose 113% during that same period, according to the Congressional Research Service. However, production on federal lands was essentially flat or declining with crude production up 1% and natural gas production down 27% during the same period.
“Today’s action is an important recognition of the benefits of responsible development on federal lands, which make up nearly a third of U.S. territory,” Milito said.
Currently, the BLM holds about 700 million acres, out of which roughly 27 million acres include subsurface rights available for the oil and gas and mineral leasing programs—a “major source” of income for the federal government, Zinke said.
As of Jan. 31, the BLM had 2,802 applications for permit to drill pending, which Zinke aims to tackle by making sure the permitting process “reflects today’s environment rather than last century’s.”
“Our intent is to strengthen our regulatory environment by streamlining, by providing stability where it’s not arbitrary and by simplifying it,” he said.
The order is the second part of President Donald Trump’s energy dominance theme, Zinke said.
So far, Zinke has signed three secretarial orders to support the president’s “America First” initiative, including orders to review the department’s regulatory framework, develop a new offshore program and jumpstart Alaska energy.
Emily Patsy can be reached at epatsy@hartenergy.com.
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