A highly anticipated oil lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Friday generated $3.7 million after failing to attract interest from major drilling companies.
The muted response to the sale in ANWR’s coastal plain was a rebuke to the Trump administration, which hyped the sale as part of its energy dominance agenda. The sale followed earlier, successful lease sales in Alaska and New Mexico that showed signs the oil industry remains largely interested in drilling on public lands.
The sale drew nine bids on five tracts, and the total sum of winning bids for the sale was $3.74 million, of which half goes to the state of Alaska. The bidders were Hex Energy and the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. AIDEA is an independently governed public corporation.
“Today’s sale featured multiple bidders and competing bids on multiple tracts, resulting in millions of dollars in new revenue for the American people and for the state of Alaska,” Kevin Pendergast, state director for the Bureau of Land Management in Alaska, said at the sale.