NEW YORK, NY – Federal oil and gas lease sales earned roughly $1.1 billion in 2018, nearly tripling the previous record set a decade ago, Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt announced Wednesday.
Oil and gas lease sales generated about $408 million in revenue to the federal and state governments in 2008. Preliminary data indicates that 2018’s sales have safely shattered that record.
“Responsible production of domestic energy keeps energy prices low for American families and businesses, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, creates American jobs, and generates billions of dollars in revenue to the federal Treasury,” Bernhardt said in a statement.
“The president’s visionary address last night has set the stage for this administration’s second act on American energy dominance,” Bernhardt added. “With a bold, new approach to energy development, and a President who recognizes that conventional wisdom is meant to be challenged, we are starting to see what a great America looks like.”
The record-setting year was almost entirely due to one lease sale held in New Mexico in September. A two-day lease sale brought in $972 million in revenue, of which roughly half will go directly to the state, according to the Department of the Interior.
Trump touted the results of his administration’s energy agenda in his State of the Union address to Congress Tuesday night.
“We have unleashed a revolution in American Energy – the United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world,” Trump said. “And now, for the first time in 65 years, we are a net exporter of energy.”
The U.S. became the most productive nation in the world for producing oil and natural gas in June, beating out Saudi Arabi and Russia for the top spot for the first time since February 1999.
The United States is not quite a net exporter of energy yet, but it is expected to be so in 2020, according to The Washington Examiner.
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