In February, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced that the US administration intends to offer about 45 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas development during two lease sales in March.
"It would be interesting what their intentions are; I’m not sure what they are thinking. Maybe it’s an attempt to try to look like they are doing the right thing in front of the elections so they can help their fellow Democrats," Moore said.
The newly announced leases, Moore noted, come at a time when the US federal government is shutting down leases on coal and restricting leases offshore the East Coast, the West Coast and the Arctic.
"The problem with the offshore [drilling] is that right now, with oil prices where they are at and what the projections are for the next few years, those leases may take a lot of money to prove up," Moore pointed out.
He further explained that the ventures in the Gulf of Mexico can be risky at present since the oil markets are "soft," and production is very high. However, if the oil prices go up above $50-60 per barrel, then all the shale production will return, impeding the new oil extractions in the Gulf of Mexico.
