Early assessment of Interior's area-wide program for leasing offshore lands

Technical Report · Mon Jul 15 04:00:00 EDT 1985

OSTI ID:6502896

More offshore lands have been leased for oil and natural gas exploration as the result of a new Department of the Interior area-wide approach to offshore leasing. It is too early, however, to determine the full effects of this change on production, imports, prices, employment, and total government revenues. GAO's analyses indicate that competition and bid revenues for individual tracts have been reduced because of the shift to the new program. Interior believes, however, that increased leasing will encourage greater production and, ultimately, greater revenues from earlier receipt of rents, royalties, and taxes. GAO also believes that two of Interior's competitively based bid-acceptance criteria are less appropriate for assessing bids than Interior's own independent estimates of tract value where Interior has good or excellent supporting data. GAO recommends that the Secretary of the Interior modify the bid-acceptance process to help assure that fair market value is received. Interior has not submitted the required annual reports assessing the effects of offshore leasing on the human, marine, and costal environments. The Congress may want to reconsider whether this legislative requirement is still needed.

• Research Organization: General Accounting Office, Washington, DC (USA). Office of the Comptroller General
• OSTI ID: 6502896
• Report Number(s): GAO/RCED-85-66; ON: TI86900174
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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BIDS
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CONTINENTAL SHELF
EVALUATION
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
LEASING
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCES
US DOI
US ORGANIZATIONS
VALUES