US raises US$3.4 million from oil, gas auctions on eve of COP28

CHEYENNE, Wyoming: This week, the Biden administration raised US$3.4 million from a sale of oil and gas drilling rights in Wyoming, the first in a series of such sales coinciding with the start of the United Nations (UN) "Conference of the Parties" on climate (COP28) in Dubai.

A total of 37 parcels on 35,000 acres (14,164 hectares) in Wyoming, with just 18 tracts on 21,500 acres receiving bids, were offered by the Interior Department's U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The sale was the largest of the BLM's plan to offer 63 drilling parcels on nearly 44,000 acres (17,806 hectares) in six Western states over the next two weeks.

Reuters reported that a bid of $2.6 million for a 720-acre parcel in Converse County accounted for some 80 percent of the Wyoming auction's total high bids, but details on the winning bidders were not available.

Environmental groups criticized the auctions.

In a statement, Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels program manager for Friends of the Earth, said, "Instead of doing the necessary work to fight climate change, Biden continues to support the expansion of fossil fuels here in the U.S."

Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was passed last year, made oil and gas auctions a prerequisite for renewable energy development, but it also requires higher royalty rates and minimum bids meant to boost taxpayer returns.

The two-week COP28 conference will begin on November 30, and participants are expected to push for the world's first deal to phase out carbon dioxide-emitting coal, oil and gas. U.S. President Joe Biden is not expected to attend.