President Biden’s decision to ban new offshore oil and natural gas development across approximately 625 million acres of U.S. coastal and offshore waters is significant and catastrophic.
That’s what Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) Offshore Committee Chairman Ron Neal, the President of Houston Energy L.P. and CEO of HEQ Deepwater, said in an IPAA statement sent to Rigzone late Sunday.
“While it may not directly affect the currently active protraction areas in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and adjoining coastal areas, it represents a major attack on the oil and natural gas industry,” Neal said in the statement.
“This should be seen as the ‘elephant’s nose under the tent’. The ban severely limits potential for exploration and development in new areas, therefore choking the long-term survivability of the industry,” he added.
“This move is a first step towards more extensive restrictions all across our industry in all U.S. basins including the onshore,” he continued.
In another statement sent to Rigzone on Sunday, National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) President Erik Milito said, “the decision to unilaterally block areas from future offshore oil and gas development is a strategic error, driven not by science or voter mandate, but by political motives”.
“This move directly undermines American energy consumers and jeopardizes the vast benefits tied to a thriving domestic energy sector,” he added.
“Such moratoriums threaten our economic and national security by creating political barriers to our own resources,” he noted.
“Even if there’s no immediate interest in some areas, it’s crucial for the federal government to maintain the flexibility to adapt its energy policy, especially in response to unexpected global changes like the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Milito went on to state.
In the statement, Milito said blanket bans only serve to transfer energy production and economic opportunities abroad, “inadvertently bolstering countries like Russia at the expense of U.S. interests”.
“NOIA will work with the incoming Trump administration and Congress to reverse this ill-conceived policy, advocating for a balanced, pragmatic approach to offshore energy that promotes both our energy independence and economic growth,” he added.
In another statement sent to Rigzone on Sunday by the American Petroleum Institute (API), API President and CEO Mike Sommers said, “American voters sent a clear message in support of domestic energy development, and yet the current administration is using its final days in office to cement a record of doing everything possible to restrict it”.
“Congress and the incoming administration should fully leverage the nation’s vast offshore resources as a critical source of affordable energy, government revenue and stability around the world,” he added.
“We urge policymakers to use every tool at their disposal to reverse this politically motivated decision and restore a pro-American energy approach to federal leasing,” he continued.
In that statement, the API highlighted that “America’s offshore resources … generate among the lowest carbon-intensive barrels produced anywhere in the world”.
Rigzone contacted the White House, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for comment on the IPAA, NOIA, and API’s statements. The DOI declined to comment. The White House and DOE have not yet responded to Rigzone’s request at the time of writing.
Rigzone also contacted the Trump transition team, senate majority leader John Thune, and House speaker Mike Johnson’s camp for comment on NOIA and the API’s statements.
In response, the Trump transition team directed Rigzone to a post on X from the Trump War Room X account, which describes itself as “the official War Room account of the 2024 Trump campaign”. The post included a video snippet of a Salem News Channel interview between Hugh Hewitt and Donald J. Trump, in which Trump said, “I see it just came over that Biden has banned all oil and gas drilling across 625 million acres of U.S. coastal territory”.
“It’s ridiculous. I’ll unban it immediately. I will unban it. I have the right to unban it immediately. What’s he doing? Why’s he doing it?,” Trump added in the interview.
Thune and Johnson’s camp have not yet responded to Rigzone’s request at the time of writing.
Rigzone has also contacted the White House, DOI, and DOE for comment on the video snippet highlighted by the Trump transition team. At the time of writing, none have responded to Rigzone’s request yet.
A fact sheet posted on the White House website on January 6 said, “today President Biden will take action to protect the entire U.S. East coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California, and additional portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska from future oil and natural gas leasing”.
“In protecting more than 625 million acres of the U.S. ocean from offshore drilling, President Biden has determined that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential,” the fact sheet added.
“With these withdrawals, President Biden is protecting coastal communities, marine ecosystems, and local economies – including fishing, recreation, and tourism – from oil spills and other impacts of offshore drilling,” it continued.
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