Oil companies shun Trump administration's Alaska offshore auction

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March 4, 2026 7:04 AM EST

File Photo: A view during a sunset in Cook Inlet Alaska on August 6, 2008. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

March 4 (Reuters) - Oil and ‌gas drillers ​failed ​to show up at the Trump administration's sale of more than 1 million acres (404,686 hectares) in Alaska's Cook ‌Inlet on Wednesday, declining to submit even a single ⁠bid.

The sale was the first of six Alaska offshore oil and gas auctions ‌mandated through 2032 by ‌U.S. President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he signed into law last year.

Trump has sought to expand domestic ​oil and gas resources, including in Alaska where production has been in decline for decades. Drilling in the Arctic ⁠and Alaska is a high-risk endeavor, involving decades of work and billions of dollars of ​investment.

Officials from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had planned to read bids via a livestream ​on the agency's website beginning at ‌10 a.m. Alaska time (1900 GMT). Bids were due a day earlier, on March 3.

Instead, BOEM's sale website ⁠was updated to reflect the lack of bids.

"At this time, no bids have been received," BOEM wrote. "In accordance with OBBBA, we will continue ⁠to hold leasing opportunities for Cook Inlet so that industry has a regular, ​predictable federal leasing schedule that ensures we achieve President Trump's American Energy Dominance Agenda."

Cook Inlet stretches about 180 miles from the Gulf of Alaska ‌to Anchorage, separating the Kenai Peninsula from the mainland.

The last federal auction for acreage in Cook Inlet, ‌held in 2022, attracted just one bid.

There are eight active federal ⁠leases in Cook Inlet, ‌all owned by Houston-based ​Hilcorp. They are not currently producing oil or gas.

(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Himani Sarkar and ‌Nia Williams)


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