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U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said the sale on Aug. 16
would offer leases offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama and Florida for exploration and development. The sale
will be the first of the administration's 2017-22 National Outer
Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.
Zinke signed an order last week to hold more lease sales and
speed up approvals of permits to explore for oil and gas, a
process he said got bogged down under former President Barack
Obama.
Zinke told reporters on Thursday that offshore royalties
returned about $18 billion to taxpayers in 2008, before Obama
took office, but had dwindled to $2.6 billion last year.
He acknowledged that 2008 was an "abnormal year" because of high
oil and gas prices, but he said drilling expanded on private
lands where developers saw a better return on their investment
and fewer regulatory hurdles.
"Some of it was oil and gas price, some of it was, the signal
was clear: that we're not in the business as a government to
deliver on oil and gas," Zinke said.
The Interior Department said it would lower royalty rates for
shallow-water leases in the August sale to encourage drilling by
oil companies, which have faced lower profits during years of
sustained low global crude prices.
Energy companies will pay 12.5 percent royalty rates for leases
in less than 200 meters (656 feet) of water, instead of a rate
of 18.75 percent that had been proposed earlier.
"The rate change reflects this Administration's willingness to
swiftly respond to economic indicators," said Vincent DeVito,
counselor to Zinke on energy policy. "The 12.5 percent royalty
rate is closer in harmony with the current market and federal
onshore lease sales," he said.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Roberta Rampton; Editing by
Peter Cooney)
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