Trump's Alaska Lease Sale Draws Zero Bids From Drillers

The Trump administration’s first oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet received no bids, according to the US Interior Department, indicating tepid interest from drillers in that region.

The sale offering approximately 1 million acres off Alaska’s south-central coast was the first of six mandated under President Donald Trump’s tax and spending law passed last year. 

The lack of bids in the sale underscores that oil companies are reluctant to explore in parts of Alaska, in part because of high costs. It shows the limits of Trump’s push to expand domestic production in Alaska, where it has been declining for decades. 

“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,” the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said on its website.