The Biden administration has canceled pending leases on a million acres in Cook Inlet, according to CBS. The Home Office said there was “a lack of industry interest in leasing in the area”. At the same time, the DOI canceled leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

The news was reported by CBS, which appeared to have received an exclusive from the Home Office. It now appears that a CBS reporter was accidentally copied from an internal email within the Biden administration. The Biden administration has released no official documentation regarding the news reported by CBS.

The leases were part of a five-year plan that was due to expire on June 30, when the ministry was due to close the sales.

The federal government claiming there is no interest is unfounded, oil industry people in Alaska said.

“How do you know if you don’t have the sale. Oil is at $111 a barrel today. There’s no harm in having the lease sale to gauge interest,” said Rebecca Logan, president of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance.

Hilcorp became interested in this area and secured public and private leases in Cook Inlet. Hilcorp had acquired permits to conduct offshore seismic surveys. Hilcorp and HEX-Furie Operating Alaska are two companies in Alaska that would be interested in bidding on new leases.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy tweeted about it, but his source was also the CBS report, which he linked as a reference for his statement: “The Biden administration has once again targeted Alaska and proven its lack of commitment to oil and gas development. in the USA. Gasoline prices are still reaching new highs and @POTUS halts potential oil drilling on over a million acres in Cook Inlet.