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The 5-year
program is the basis for the leasing program. It identifies the areas to
be offered for leasing during a 5-year period. It establishes the schedule for
individual lease sales. No area will be offered for sale that is not included in
the 5-year program. During the course of developing the 5-year program, all
affected States and applicable Federal agencies will be consulted; comments from
interested parties and the general public will be solicited.
Section 18
(133 KB PDF) of the
OCS
Lands Act
(273 KB PDF) requires the
Secretary to develop a 5-year program and prescribes the
major steps in the process (24
KB PDF). Once the program is developed,
it is presented to and approved by Congress prior to implementation.
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What are the
steps
(24 KB PDF)
in the 5-year leasing process required by
section 18?
(133 KB PDF)
Throughout
the
2-3 year process
(16 KB PDF) of
developing the 5-Year Program, we consult with our constituents,
ensuring that the program takes into account the concerns of all
parties. The section 18 process includes solicitation of
comments; development of a draft proposed program, development
of a proposed program, development of a proposed final program,
and Secretarial approval. In addition, MMS is requesting
comments on an accompanying Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
to the 5-Year Program.
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What type of environmental review occurs during the 5-year
leasing program development process?
The five-year leasing program is subject to analysis under the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).
Comprehensive analyses of the environmental and socioeconomic
impacts are required by NEPA. The MMS will use the highest level
of review and documentation under NEPA, the Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS), to evaluate the five-year leasing program. It
will identify any adverse environmental effects that cannot be
avoided or mitigated, alternatives to the proposed action, the
relationship between short-term resources and long-term
productivity, and irreversible and irretrievable commitments of
resources. This process also incorporates opportunities at
several steps in the process for public and stakeholder review
and comment. EISs for the past two five-year leasing programs
can be ordered through
MMS' Information
Center. For further information on NEPA, please visit
the President's
Council on Environmental
Quality website.
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How many planning areas are there for offshore minerals
exploration and development in the OCS?
MMS has created
26 planning
areas.
(2.0 MB PDF)
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Which planning areas are considered to be under
moratoria/executive withdrawal from leasing?
On January 9, 2007, President George W. Bush modified the 1998
OCS leasing withdrawal in order to allow leasing in two areas --
the North Aleutian Basin planning area offshore Alaska, and the
181 South Area of the Gulf of Mexico. These actions were in
response to the requests from Alaska state officials and local
communities and enactment of the
Gulf of Mexico Energy
Security Act (GOMESAct) of 2006
(51 KB PDF)
respectively.
The Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 mandated a sale
in the original Sale 181 area -west of the military mission
line, and 125 miles from Florida in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico
and 100 miles in the Central Gulf of Mexico. This mandated sale,
Sale 224 is scheduled for March 2008. The act also established
moratoria to 2022 in rest of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and in a
near shore portion of Central Gulf of Mexico within 100 miles of
Florida.
The following planning areas are still subject to a 1998
Presidential withdrawal from leasing through June 30, 2012,
under the authority of Section 12 of the OCS Lands Act (43 USC
1341). All but North Aleutian Basin, Alaska, are also subject to
annual Congressional moratoria, some from as early as Fiscal
Year (FY) 1982:
Washington-Oregon
Northern, Central and Southern California
Eastern Gulf of Mexico, except for the portion located off
Alabama and more
than 100
miles off Florida that was proposed, but not offered, for Lease
Sale
181 in 2001
South, Mid and North Atlantic |
In addition, in 1998 President Clinton
withdrew indefinitely all National Marine Sanctuaries, which are located
in the following planning areas:
Washington-Oregon (Olympic Coast)
Central California (Cordell Bank, gulf of Farallones and Monterey Bay)
Southern California (Channel Islands)
Western Gulf of Mexico (Flower Garden Banks)
Straits of Florida (Florida Keys)
South Atlantic (Gray’s Reef)
Med-Atlantic (Monitor)
North Atlantic (Stellwagen Bank)
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What is the history of the Congressional Moratoria for the
planning areas?
The first Congressional moratorium was enacted in FY 1982,
prohibiting leasing off the Central and Northern California
coast. In 1984, Southern California, the North Atlantic, and
part of the Eastern Gulf Of Mexico, basically south of the 26
degree N latitude, were subject to moratoria. In FY 1990, the
North Aleutian Basin, Alaska, and the Mid-Atlantic became
moratoria areas. Washington/Oregon and the Florida Panhandle
area of the Easter Gulf of Mexico were added to the moratoria
list in FY 1991. The South Atlantic was added in 1992. These
areas have been continued to be subject to annual congressional
moratoria, with the exception of the North Aleutian Basin,
Alaska, which has not been included since FY 2004.
The Administration supports the current Congressional
moratoria/Presidential withdrawal.
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What has
changed since the last 5-year program?
In the year 2000, when the Request for Comments for the current
5-Year Program was issued, oil prices averaged $26.72 per barrel
and natural gas prices averaged $3.68 per thousand cubic feet
(mcf), which for natural gas, itself was a 68 percent increase
over the prior year. In 2004, those prices averaged $36.80 and
$5.42, respectively. The Energy Information Administration
(EIA), in its Annual Energy Outlook 2005, projects that
oil prices will reach $52 per barrel and natural gas prices will
reach $8.20 per mcf in 2025.
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Is the demand for energy
growing?
Yes. Projections done by the Department of Energy (DOE)
anticipate that the demand for oil will grow by 30 percent and
natural gas by 40 percent in the next 10 to 15 years. That’s an
annual growth rate of about 1.4 percent.
Petroleum products and natural gas are projected to account for
almost 65 percent of domestic energy consumption in 2025, a
slightly larger share than today. Petroleum demand is expected
to grow from 20 million barrels per day in 2003 to 27.9 million
barrels per day in 2025. U.S. natural gas consumption is
expected to grow from 22 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in 2003 to
almost 31 tcf in 2025.
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Is energy production keeping up with the demand for energy?
No. Domestic production has not kept pace with the rising demand
for energy. Today we import a staggering 60 percent of the oil
we need. We import 15 percent of the natural gas we need, and
that number is expected to rise dramatically in the coming
decades. Domestic production of oil, while increasing through
the end of this decade, primarily because of increasing deep
water Gulf of Mexico production, will fall by about 1 million
barrels per day by 2025. A larger share of this oil will be
coming from overseas in future years. Imports will account for
68 percent of demand by 2025, compared to 56 percent in 2003.
Domestic production of natural gas will grow only from 19.1 tcf
to 21.8 tcf, meeting only about 30 percent of demand growth.
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How important is
natural gas to our nation?
Natural gas accounts for 23 percent of all energy consumed in
America. Half of all American homes, about 56 million, are
heated by natural gas. And about 90 percent of the new energy
plants coming online in the next decade will be powered by
natural gas.Long-term
predictions of high natural gas prices are causing American
companies to move natural gas-based manufacturing overseas, to
locations where gas is available at lower cost. Since 1998, 2
million manufacturing jobs have been lost, and energy costs are
a major contributing factor.
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How much
energy does the OCS provide our nation?
The Federal OCS produces 30 percent of all domestic oil
production - more than we import from any given country and more
than is produced from any single state. It also accounts for 23
percent of all the domestically produced natural gas.
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Where on the OCS
does this energy come from?
The Gulf of Mexico produces the majority
of the domestic oil and gas for our nation. Today, there are
approximately 4,000 platforms operating in the Gulf of Mexico
producing nearly 1.6 million barrels of oil per day and 12.1
billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. Now in its ninth year
of expansion, deepwater oil and gas development in the Gulf of
Mexico is a workhorse for U.S. domestic oil and gas production.
Deepwater oil production rose 535 percent between 1995 and 2002,
and deepwater gas production rose 620 percent over those same
years. If current trends continue, by 2006, as much as 77
percent of daily oil production in the gulf and 26 percent of
daily gas production could come from the deep water regions.
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How much oil and gas is available on the outer continental
shelf?
MMS estimates that 76.0 billion barrels of oil and 406.1
trillion cubic feet of natural gas are technically recoverable
from federal offshore areas. These estimates represent the
potential hydrocarbons of an area that can be produced using
current technology, without any consideration to economic
feasibility. Current technology includes drilling in water in
excess of 3000 meters (10,000 feet) deep and to depths in excess
of 9600 meters (31,700 feet).
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What are some of the benefits OCS oil and gas provides to our
nation?
Overall oil production in the Gulf will
increase to a record 2 million barrels per day by 2006, compared
to the current rate of 1.5 million barrels per day, and could
reach 2.25 million barrels a day by 2011, according to MMS
projections. This projected increase alone will provide enough
additional energy to heat 3.5 million new homes.
More than 92,000 barrels of royalty-in-kind crude oil per day
are being delivered to the Nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve
(SPR). MMS and the DOE began the current fill initiative in
April 2002 and anticipate that the SPR's 700-million-barrel
capacity will be reached in the summer of 2005. As of early
February 2005, the inventory in the SPR was more than 681
million barrels of oil. The SPR is the world's largest supply of
emergency crude oil, with the federally owned oil stocks stored
in underground salt caverns along the coastline of the Gulf of
Mexico.
MMS also collects, accounts for, and
disburses mineral revenues from OCS lands as well as onshore Federal and
American Indian lands, averaging $6 billion a year. Last year those
disbursements were close to $6 billion and have totaled more than $146
billion since 1982.
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Is offshore
energy exploration considered safe?
For years, MMS has worked to advance the safety of offshore
operations worldwide. Off U.S. shores, the agency is required,
under the OCS Lands Act, to conduct annual announced and
periodic unannounced inspections of all oil and gas operations
on the OCS. The Act also requires MMS and the U.S. Coast Guard
to investigate major accidents that include deaths, major fires
or spills. In 2003 alone, MMS inspectors conducted over 23,000
inspections. After September 11, 2001, the agency developed
guidelines to enhance existing security measures.
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Is
offshore energy exploration a major source of ocean pollution?
No. The record of the last 50 years, but particularly in the
last 20, shows the offshore industry is one of the safest
industrial activities in the United States. A recent study by
the National Academy of Sciences reports that in the last 15
years there were zero platform spills greater than 1,000
barrels. Compared to worldwide tanker spill rates, outer
continental shelf operations are more than five times safer.
Imports present an environmental risk of spills about 13 times
greater than domestic production. In fact, annual natural seeps
account for 150-175 times more oil in the ocean than OCS oil and
gas operations. |
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