Five-Year Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing Program: Status and Issues in Brief Updated July 27, 2022   [open pdf - 1MB]

From the Document: "Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), as amended, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) within the Department of the Interior (DOI) must prepare and maintain forward-looking five-year plans--referred to by BOEM as 'national programs' or 'five-year programs'--to schedule proposed oil and gas lease sales on the U.S. outer continental shelf (OCS). The most recent five-year program, covering the period from mid-2017 to mid-2022, expired on June 30, 2022.2 On July 1, 2022, BOEM released a proposed program (PP) for the 2023-2028 period.3 The PP proposes as many as 11, or as few as 0, offshore oil and gas lease sales during the 2023-2028 period. The maximum of 11 lease sales would consist of 10 sales in the Gulf of Mexico region and 1 in the Alaska region. Final program decisions will be made at a later stage of action."