Obama’s offshore quandary
30 November 2011
The US’ debate over prioritising energy security, or environmental considerations, can only intensify, as the Gulf reopens to oil and gas drilling, says the EIU's Peter Kiernan*
OR THE American Petroleum Institute (API), the US’ next upstream leasing programme doesn’t go far enough to promote offshore oil and gas development. For environmentalists, it goes too far
On 8 November, US interior secretary Ken Salazar proposed the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Programme for 2012-17. Two days later, the Department of Interior (DOI) said it will hold the first Gulf of Mexico (GOM) – western – lease sale since the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster to complete the programme that expires next year. In total, there will be 15 lease sales between 2012 and 2017: 12 in the GOM; and three in Alaska.
The API is disappointed that no new areas in the Atlantic, Pacific and eastern GOM regions are included. But environmental groups claim the programme goes too far, by including the Arctic Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, offshore Alaska. In seeking the middle ground, the...