Page 9 - NorthAmOil Week 47 2022

NorthAmOil POLICY NorthAmOil

BLM announces lease sale in Nevada, Utah

NEVADA, UTAH THE US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rates were originally set in 1987.
has announced the lease sale of nearly 100,000 Additionally, the BLM has issued policy guid-
of acres (405 square km) in Nevada and Utah. ance to implement the oil and gas leasing provi-
The 35 parcels in Nevada total almost 63,604 sions in the IRA and provided updated direction
acres (257 square km) and the 18 parcels in Utah on other programme components.
cover almost 31,808 acres (129 square km). According to the American Petroleum Insti-
The BLM is initiating a scoping period to tute (API), oil production from US federal land
receive public input. and waters provides around 24% of the country’s
Minimum bids for all offered parcels will be oil production. Additionally, natural gas produc-
$10 per acre ($2,500 per square km), an increase tion from federal land and waters accounts for
from the $2 per acre ($500 per square km) mini- roughly 11% of total US gas production.
mum bid set in 1987. In April, the administration of US President
Royalty rates will be 16.67%, up from the pre- Joe Biden said that it would re-start auctioning
vious minimum of 12.5%. leases to drill for oil and gas on federal land start-
Rental rates will be $3 per acre ($750 per ing next week, but with less acreage auctioned
square km) for the first two years, $5 per acre and higher royalty rates. Biden had issued a mor-
($1,250 per acre) for years 3-8, and $15 per atorium on oil and gas drilling on federal land
acre ($3,750 per square km) in the ninth and shortly after he came into office. However, his
tenth years. Prior to the Inflation Reduction administration has since moved back towards
Act (IRA), rental rates were $1.50 per acre allowing on federal acreage, in part as a result of
($375 per square km) for the first five years legal action by states and groups opposed to new
and $2 per acre for each year thereafter. Those restrictions on federal drilling.™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES

CNOOC seeks buyers for US oil assets

TEXAS CNOOC has alerted buyers it is interested in
divesting its US oilfields, sources told Reuters
last week, as the Chinese national oil company
(NOC) looks to pull back from the West amid
sanctions fears and focus more on domestic
investment.
Reports first emerged that CNOOC was
eyeing an exit from the UK, Canada and the
US in April, because of concerns that the West
could slap sanctions on those assets in response
to Beijing’s refusal to condemn Russia’s war in
Ukraine. At the same time, the Chinese govern-
ment is ramping up efforts to improve the coun-
try’s energy security, issuing quotas to CNOOC
and others to step up production, including by has an interest in oil and gas operations con-
spending on new, more expensive and hard-to- trolled by US player Chesapeake Energy, Ches-
recover resources to offset decline at more con- apeake has put its own stakes in the fields up for
ventional reservoirs. sale, but Reuters reported that this was not antic-
According to Reuters, CNOOC has hired ipated to affect CNOOC’s plans.
JPMorgan to advise it on a potential withdrawal CNOOC is also in talks with UK energy
from the US shale gas sector, with the sale report- group Harbour Energy on the sale of its Gulf of
edly anticipated to raise about $2bn. There is no Mexico operations.
guarantee of a deal, the news agency said, not- Meanwhile, the Norwegian press reported
ing that CNOOC could decide to keep hold of in October that CNOOC was mulling the
the assets if it did not receive suitable offers or if sale of UK oil assets to Norway’s Equinor
political circumstances changed quickly. for an expected NOK20-30bn ($1.9-2.9bn),
In the US, CNOOC has stakes in projects in although neither company has confirmed
the onshore Eagle Ford and Rockies shale regions, this. CNOOC holds interests in a number of
as well as interests in two large offshore deposits, UK North Sea fields, including Buzzard, one
Appomattox and Stampede, in the Gulf of Mexico. of the largest in the region, as well as Golden
In the Eagle Ford shale of South Texas, CNOOC Eagle, Scott and Telford.™

Week 47 24•November•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9