Gulf of Mexico Auction Yields Far Fewer Bids Than First Trump Sale
March 11, 2026
The Trump administration's second sale of oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico in three months attracted far less industry interest than the auction it held in December, according to a sale document posted on a government website on Tuesday.
The sale comes as a U.S. war with Iran has disrupted global crude flows and sent oil prices to four-year highs.
Of the 15,000 blocks offered by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, 25 received bids, according to the document of presale statistics. That compares with 181 blocks that received bids at BOEM's last Gulf sale, which was the first held in the region since 2023.
Ten companies submitted a total of 38 bids, which will be read publicly via livestream on Wednesday. BOEM did not disclose the names of the companies or the value of the bids.
The blocks that received bids cover 140,753 acres out of a total of 80.4 million acres offered.
The auction is the second of 30 mandated by U.S. President Donald Trump's tax cut and spending bill, which he signed into law in July. The first, which was held in December, ended with $300.4 million in high bids, according to BOEM, which is an arm of the Interior Department.
The Trump administration's plans for regular offshore lease sales are a significant departure from those of former President Joe Biden, whose administration had planned for a historically small number of oil and gas auctions as part of an effort to move away from fossil fuels.
It is the second offshore lease sale to be held this month. The first, of more than 1 million acres in Alaska's Cook Inlet, attracted no bids.
(Reuters - Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Stephen Coates)
