The Bureau of Land Management raised $139,021,741 in a quarterly oil and gas lease sale, selling 25 parcels totaling 20,334 acres across New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The bonus bids and rental payments are split between the federal government and the states where the parcels sit.
Latest in a run of big New Mexico sales
This sale follows a record New Mexico and Texas auction in May that brought in more than $4 billion. Lease sales in New Mexico alone have generated more than $4.4 billion so far this year, about 90% of the $4.9 billion BLM has collected from oil and gas leasing nationwide over the same period.
A lower royalty rate
The sale ran under the Working Families Tax Cut Act, also called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which set the royalty rate on new federal onshore oil and gas production at a minimum of 12.5%. That reverses a 16.67% rate set under the Inflation Reduction Act. A royalty rate is the share of production revenue a company pays the government for the right to drill on federal land, so a lower rate leaves more of that revenue with the company. BLM said the lower rate reduces the cost of doing business on public land and expects it to draw more leasing and drilling activity.
What a lease buys
Leasing is the first step toward developing federal oil and gas resources. The BLM reviews proposals under the National Environmental Policy Act before drilling can start. Leases run for 10 years, and longer if a well keeps producing in paying quantities. Sale documents and bid results are posted on the National Fluid Lease Sale System, which also lists upcoming BLM lease sales; the sale itself was conducted online through the Efficient Markets platform.
BLM manages about 245 million acres of public land, mostly across 12 western states including Alaska, and administers 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate nationwide.
