DOI Issues Guidance on Oil and Gas Leasing

On November 31, 2022, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) issued an Instruction Memorandum on the “Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act […] to the Oil and Natural Gas Leasing Program.” The guidance explains how BLM will implement changes made to its oil and gas leasing program made in the IRA, including:

• the requirement that BLM collect a fee on all expressions of interest submitted by potential lessees;
• the termination of the BLM’s authority to issue leases on a non-competitive basis; and
• the requirement that BLM increase rents and royalties on competitive leases.