30 offshore oil and gas auctions set for ‘Gulf of America’

President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act is now law, setting the stage for at least 30 new offshore oil and gas lease sales for the US Gulf to be held from this year until 2040.

As outlined in the law, one lease sale would be held no later than 15 December 2025, two lease sales would be held each year from 2026 to 2039, and one in 2040 in the ‘Gulf of America’ region, except for areas where moratoria exist. The Secretary of the Interior will offer no fewer than 80M acres for lease under the provisions of the law.

Additionally, the act requires the Interior Secretary to hold six lease sales offering no fewer than 1M acres for the Cook Inlet in Alaska starting in 2026. One lease sale will be held each year from 2026 to 2028, and one each year in 2030 to 2032.

Lease Sale 262 for US Gulf

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced a proposed notice of sale (PNOS) for an offshore oil and gas sale for the Gulf of America. Lease Sale 262, scheduled for 10 December 2025, will include shallow and deepwater blocks covering about 80M acres in the Western, Central and Eastern Planning areas of the US Gulf.

To sweeten the pot for oil developers, BOEM is proposing a royalty rate of 16-2/3% for both shallow and deepwater leases — "the lowest rate for deepwater since 2007,” said BOEM acting regional director, Gulf of America, Laura Robbins.

“The lowest rate for deepwater since 2007”

This would be the first of three planned lease sales for the Gulf of America under the 2024–2029 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.

The law is a dramatic about face from the Biden Administration, which sought to limit new offshore oil and gas drilling, instead incentivising the development of new wind and solar projects through the Inflation Reduction Act.

Drilling down in US Gulf

Like much of the rest of North America, drilling in the US Gulf is off dramatically since this time last year. Just 10 rigs were actively drilling as of 18 July — a 50% drop yoy from 2024, according to Baker Hughes rotary rigs data.

Lack of demand is reflected in the average day rates and vessel utilisation levels reported by US publicly listed OSV owners. SEACOR Marine, which operates two platform supply vessels (PSVs), three fast supply boats and five liftboats in the US Gulf, reported average day rates of US$23,874 and fleet utilisation of 25% for the quarter ending 31 March 2025, down from US$28,156 and 27%, respectively for the same quarter in 2024.

For the same quarter, Tidewater reported average day rates of US$23,243 for large PSVs, down from US$29,924 yoy.