Federal offshore oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet basin draws no bids
- Alaska Beacon
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
Federal sale, one in a series mandated by the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act,’ indicates a lack of industry interest in Cook Inlet, as did a concurrent state lease sale that drew only one bid
By Yereth Rosen
Alaska Beacon
The first in a series of newly mandated oil and gas lease sales for federal waters of Alaska’s Cook Inlet received no bids, agency officials said on Wednesday.
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees oil and gas leasing in federal offshore territory, made the announcement on its website. The federal sale is the first in a series of sales mandated by the 2025 tax and budget bill called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
“At this time, no bids have been received. In accordance with OBBBA, we will continue to hold leasing opportunities for Cook Inlet so that industry has a regular, predictable federal leasing schedule that ensures we achieve President Trump’s American Energy Dominance Agenda,” said the announcement.
The auction, which offered about 1 million acres, is one of six Cook Inlet sales mandated through 2032 under the bill.
A statement released by the Department of the Interior, which oversees BOEM, said it is important to keep holding Cook Inlet lease sales, despite the results of this one.
“Regular, predictable federal leasing is the foundation for maintaining domestic energy production. Even when a sale receives no bids, maintaining a transparent, congressionally mandated schedule keeps Cook Inlet opportunities available for future investment, strengthens national readiness and supports Alaska’s role in meeting America’s energy needs,” the statement said.
Industry response to a state Cook Inlet lease sale conducted at the same time was little better, continuing a streak of lackluster industry interest in auctions for that basin.
The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas’ annual areawide Cook Inlet sale, which offered 2.9 million acres of state-managed offshore and onshore territory, drew only one bid, according to results released Wednesday.
The sole bid, for a 20-acre tract, was submitted by a company called Three Mountain Oil LLC and totaled $600, according to the division. That is a low amount compared to bids submitted in past state Cook Inlet lease sales, which were typically in the tens of thousands of dollars per tract, and sometimes more.
An areawide lease sale for state territory on the Alaska Peninsula, held at the same time, also drew a single bid. It was the first time since 2014 that anyone had bid in the annual Alaska Peninsula sale. The bid was $800 for a 160-acre parcel, and it was submitted by an individual named Teresa Gouch.
Little historic interest for controversial sales
The federal Cook Inlet lease sale, like the 2022 sale that preceded it, was controversial.
The sale was targeted for legal action over its environmental impacts. A coalition of conservation and Native organizations last week sent the Department of the Interior anotice of intent to sueover what it characterized as inadequate environmental review preceding the sale.
Wednesday’s results bolstered the argument that this and other planned federal Cook Inlet lease sales are unnecessary, said a statement released by Earthjustice, the environmental law firm representing the plaintiffs.
“We are glad to see no companies bid in this unlawful lease sale. This is great news for all who live in and around the Inlet, and particularly critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales,” Earthjustice attorney Hannah Payne-Foster said in the statement.
She noted that in addition to the six sales planned under the tax bill, there are additional Cook Inlet sales proposed by the Trump administration in its pending five-year outer continental shelf leasing plan. “As this result reflects, holding these sales is a waste of government resources and a distraction from real energy solutions like a much-needed transition for Alaska to renewable energy,” she said.
Cooper Freeman, Alaska director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the response to Wednesday’s lease sale could not be attributed to Biden administration disincentives for oil investment as pro-development organizations have claimed in the past.
“This is the Trump sale. This is their sale. It completely flopped. It’s embarrassing. And it’s also a big relief to Cook Inlet fish and wildlife,” Freeman said.
The lack of bids fits the historic pattern for federal lease sales in Cook Inlet stretching back to the Reagan administration.
A controversial lease sale held at the end of 2022 drew only a single bid, which was submitted by Hilcorp, the dominant operator in Cook Inlet. Earlier that year, Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan, both R-Alaska, criticized the Biden administration for canceling the lease sale for lack of industry interest. In a joint statement, Sullivan said President Joe Biden and officials in his administration were “blatantly lying” about lack of industry interest in the sale.
The sale wound up being resurrected by Congress, but a lawsuit resulted in a court mandate for a new environmental study. That study is now completed.
A 2017 federal Cook Inlet lease sale drew 14 bids, also from Hilcorp. Only half remain active. A 2004 federal Cook Inlet lease sale drew no bid. A 1997 lease sale drew two bids. A 1982 sale drew no bids. Other Cook Inlet leases sales were canceled in 2011 and 2007 for lack of interest.
The absence of bids in the latest federal Cook Inlet sale happened despite claims by Sullivan that the multiple Cook Inlet auctions, along with mandated auctions in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, would stimulate broad development.
Sullivan has used multiple public appearances to tout last year’s tax and budget bill as a bonanza for the state, and he emphasized the mandated lease sales during a brief Fox News interview last July, shortly after President Donald Trump signed the bill.
“This is going to be boom time in Alaska for jobs and American energy,” Sullivan said on the Fox Business show Varney & Co. “American energy dominance runs through my great state.”
As is the case with federal Cook Inlet lease sales, recent state Cook Inlet sales have drawn only limited industry interest. From 2016 to 2025, each of the state areawide Cook Inlet lease sales drew between zero and eight bids, according to Division of Oil and Gas records.
• Yereth Rosen came to Alaska in 1987 to work for the Anchorage Times. She has been reporting on Alaska news ever since, covering stories ranging from oil spills to sled-dog races. She has reported for Reuters, for the Alaska Dispatch News, for Arctic Today and for other organizations. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
