The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will auction about 35,000 acres of federal land in California in an oil and gas lease sale scheduled for December 1, the agency said on Thursday. The offering consists of 43 parcels spread across Kern, Kings, Fresno and San Luis Obispo counties. The auction puts federal minerals in the state back on the market after a multiyear pause in new leasing.
The auction comes after the agency decided in June to reopen federal oil and gas leasing in its Bakersfield and Central Coast planning areas. New leasing in those areas had been on hold for years amid litigation and environmental review. The December sale turns that reopening into a concrete offering, with defined parcels available for bid in four counties.
Kern County already hosts the bulk of federal drilling in California. The agency puts the county's share of federal drilling in the state at more than 95%. Parcels in Kern therefore sit in the state's most active federal drilling area, while the tracts in Kings, Fresno and San Luis Obispo counties extend the offering into three other counties.
For operators, the sale reopens a path to acquiring federal leases in California after a period in which new leasing in the Bakersfield and Central Coast planning areas was on hold. The December date gives companies a defined window to evaluate the parcels and submit bids. Producers active in the state will have the chance to add federal acreage in four counties as leasing resumes in the reopened Bakersfield and Central Coast planning areas.
Source: Oilprice
