Public Record Service

Energy and permitting policy, read from the public record.

Register entry No. 0028Lease noticePub. L. 119-21

BOEM proposes Cook Inlet oil and gas Lease Sale BBC2 for March 3, 2027, on terms fixed by statute, Docket BOEM-2026-0925

The proposed notice of sale repeats the lease terms and nine stipulations of the March 2026 sale that drew no bids, because Pub. L. 119-21 requires them. Alaska's governor and affected local governments have until Dec. 14 to comment.

Entered by
Public Record Service
Date
Sources
10 cited

Summary

In March, the first Cook Inlet oil and gas lease sale held under the 2025 budget reconciliation law drew no bids, according to Oil & Gas Journal’s report on the sale [9]. On October 9, 2026, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, now operating within the Interior Department’s Marine Minerals Administration, posted a proposed notice of sale for the second one, Lease Sale BBC2, with the same royalty rate, bonus minimums, rental schedule and nine lease stipulations [1, 2, 5]. The law leaves no room to vary them. A notice of availability published October 13 at 91 FR 64941 (Docket No. BOEM-2026-0925) gives Alaska’s governor and affected local governments until December 14 to comment, and sets bid opening for March 3, 2027 [4].

What the record shows

Authority. The proposed notice cites the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and 30 CFR 556.304, and says the sale “will be held pursuant to the requirements of the OBBBA,” the short name it uses for Pub. L. 119-21 [1]. Section 50102(a)(2) of that law requires “a minimum of 6 offshore lease sales” in the Cook Inlet Planning Area as drawn in BOEM’s 2016 proposed final program for 2017-2022, with at least one sale in each of calendar years 2026 through 2028 and 2030 through 2032, each by March 15 [8]. A March 3 bid reading falls inside that window [1, 8]. The notice describes BBC2 as “the second lease sale required by OBBBA in the Cook Inlet” [1].

Area. BOEM proposes to offer “all available unleased acreage in the Cook Inlet OCS,” on the Iliamna, Seldovia and Kenai protraction diagrams [1]. The statute sets a floor of 1,000,000 acres, or all unleased and available acres if fewer remain [8]. The proposed notice does not state an acreage figure; Interior’s press release puts it at about 1.05 million acres in 224 blocks, from roughly Kalgin Island south to Augustine Island [5].

Terms. Section 50102(b)(2)(A) directs the Secretary to “offer the same lease form, lease terms, economic conditions, and stipulations” as the final notice for Cook Inlet Lease Sale 244, published May 22, 2017, at 82 FR 23291 [8]. The proposed notice applies that instruction line by line, and the terms match the BBC1 final notice of February 2 [1, 6]:

Term Lease Sale BBC1 (final notice, Feb. 2, 2026) Lease Sale BBC2 (proposed notice, Oct. 9, 2026)
Lease form BOEM-2005 (February 2017) [6] BOEM-2005 (February 2017) [1]
Primary term 10 years [6] 10 years [1]
Minimum bonus bid $25 per hectare [6] $25 per hectare [1]
Annual rental $13 per hectare, then $20 from year eight or discovery [6] Same schedule: $13, then $20 per hectare [1]
Royalty rate 12.5 percent [6] 12.5 percent [1]
Royalty relief None [6] None [1]
Bidding Mail only; in-person bidding eliminated [6] Mail only; in-person bidding eliminated [1]

Stipulations. All nine stipulations come from the Sale 244 notice [2]. Four apply to every lease: protection of fisheries, protection of biological resources, an orientation program and transportation of hydrocarbons [2]. Stipulation 7 also applies sale-wide and bars on-lease geophysical surveys from November 1 through April 1 to protect Cook Inlet beluga whales [2]. Stipulation 5 adds a ban on exploratory drilling over the same months on 10 Kenai blocks that overlap “Area 2” beluga critical habitat [2]. Stipulation 6 closes blocks within 10 statute miles of major anadromous streams to on-lease surveys from July 1 through September 30 [2]. Stipulation 8 bars discharges of drilling fluids and cuttings, and seafloor disturbance, within 1,000 meters of northern sea otter critical habitat [2]. Stipulation 9 requires lessees to coordinate with the United Cook Inlet Drift Association and keeps on-lease surveys out of the drift gillnet season, which the stipulation puts at “approximately mid-June to mid-August” [2]. Each of the protected-species stipulations allows a waiver or variance at the plan stage, at “the sole discretion” of BOEM’s Regional Supervisor of Leasing and Plans [2].

The information-to-lessees package adds that survey activity “can affect beluga whales, northern sea otters, other marine mammals, coastal birds, subsistence hunting and fishing activities, and commercial fishing activities,” and that BOEM may require coordination with subsistence communities [3].

Revenue. The law changes who gets the money, starting in fiscal year 2034: 70 percent of bonuses, rents and royalties from these Cook Inlet sales goes to the State of Alaska, and 30 percent to the Treasury [8].

Where it sits in the process

The proposed notice is the first public step of the BBC2 sale. Under section 19 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the governor and local executives may comment on “the size, timing, and location” of the sale; those comments are due December 14, 2026 [4]. After that, the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management decides how to proceed, acting “in accordance with the requirements in the OBBBA, which limit DOI’s discretion,” and BOEM then publishes a final notice of sale at least 30 days before the bid reading [1].

What happened at the first Cook Inlet sale?

BBC1 ran on the same schedule a year earlier. Its final notice, published February 2, 2026, offered “approximately 442,537 hectares (ha) or 1.09 million acres” and set the bid reading for March 4 [6]. Oil & Gas Journal reported the next day that BOEM’s sale page said, “At this time, no bids have been received” [9]. A state sale held alongside it drew one bid, from Three Mountain Oil LLC, for a 20-acre tract [9].

Who holds federal leases in Cook Inlet now?

According to the Alaska Beacon, Hilcorp was the only company with federal leases in Cook Inlet, and in September it relinquished all eight, seven from a 2017 sale and one from 2022; the Beacon reported that this leaves Cook Inlet’s federal waters “with no active leases” [10]. The 2022 lease came from Lease Sale 258, held December 30, 2022 [7]. That sale was challenged by Cook Inletkeeper and others; on July 16, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska remanded the environmental impact statement and record of decision without vacatur, and on December 22, 2025, BOEM published a modified record of decision affirming the sale “and the one lease issued” [7]. This site’s August report on the CNMI seabed minerals sale covered Interior’s reunification of BOEM and BSEE, the reason this Cook Inlet notice is signed by the acting director of the Marine Minerals Administration [4].

What the record does not show

No environmental document. Neither the proposed notice nor the Federal Register notice cites an environmental impact statement, environmental assessment or record of decision for BBC2 [1, 4]. The Lease Sale 258 supplemental EIS addressed that sale’s affirmation, and the BBC2 documents do not say whether BOEM is relying on it [1, 7].

No response to the first sale’s result. The proposed notice does not mention that BBC1 drew no bids, and it gives no estimate of expected interest [1]. Interior’s release says the 12.5 percent royalty is proposed “to encourage strong industry participation,” while the proposed notice attributes the same rate to section 50102(b)(2)(A), which fixes it by reference to Sale 244 [1, 5, 8].

No block list or acreage. The final list of blocks will be posted only with the final notice [1]. The release’s 224 blocks and 1.05 million acres, and its statement that BBC2 covers “the same area offered” in BBC1, sit beside a BBC1 final notice that described 1.09 million acres [5, 6]. The record does not explain the difference.

No state position. The record contains no comment yet from Alaska’s governor or from any local government [4].

Positions on the record

Interior frames the sale as routine compliance. “The BBC2 sale continues MMA’s work to carry out a predictable, congressionally mandated leasing schedule that supports domestic energy production, strengthens national readiness and provides a transparent process for the State of Alaska, local governments and industry,” Acting Director Mike Olsen said in the October 9 release [5].

Environmental groups opposed the March sale and oppose this one. After BBC1, an Earthjustice attorney told Oil & Gas Journal, “We are glad to see no companies bid in this unlawful lease sale,” and the Sierra Club’s Athan Manuel called it “a big, fat failure” [9]. On the BBC2 proposal, an Earthjustice attorney told the Alaska Beacon, “The government held an identical sale in March, and it failed completely with zero bids,” adding, “Since then, the only company with any existing leases in federal Cook Inlet waters relinquished those leases” [10]. Cooper Freeman, Alaska director of the Center for Biological Diversity, told the Beacon, “Cook Inlet is being besieged by oil spills, data centers and gold mining” [10].

None of those positions is yet a filing. The only comments the notice invites are due December 14 from the governor and affected local governments, and the Assistant Secretary’s latitude in answering them is limited by section 50102 [1, 4].

Reading-room questions

Questions readers bring to this record, answered from the documents cited below.

When is the Cook Inlet BBC2 oil and gas lease sale?
BOEM proposes to read bids at 10 a.m. Alaska time on Wednesday, March 3, 2027, with sealed bids due by 10 a.m. the day before [1]. The date is final only once a final notice of sale is published at least 30 days ahead [4].
Who can comment on the BBC2 proposed notice of sale, and by when?
The comment opportunity under section 19 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act belongs to Alaska's governor and the executive of any affected local government, and their comments are due December 14, 2026 [4]. The notice does not open a general public comment period [4].
What royalty rate and minimum bid apply to Cook Inlet Lease Sale BBC2?
A 12.5 percent royalty, a $25-per-hectare minimum bonus bid and a 10-year primary term, with rent of $13 per hectare rising to $20 [1]. The terms are carried over from 2017's Lease Sale 244, as Pub. L. 119-21 requires [1, 8].
Did anyone bid in the first Cook Inlet sale under the 2025 law?
No. Oil & Gas Journal reported that the March 4, 2026, sale drew no bids [9]. BBC2 offers the same northern Cook Inlet area under the same terms [5].
Can BOEM change the BBC2 terms to attract bidders?
Not the core terms. Section 50102(b)(2)(A) requires the same lease form, terms, economic conditions and stipulations as the Sale 244 notice [8]. BOEM keeps the right to reject bids, withdraw blocks and revise the area offered [1].

Note on sourcing

A proposed notice of sale is not a decision to hold the sale; the blocks, stipulations and date can change in the final notice. The proposed notice itself gives no acreage or block count; the 1.05 million acres and 224 blocks are from the Interior press release, which also describes the area as the same one offered in March, while the March final notice described a 1.09 million-acre area. The two figures have not been reconciled. The outcome of the March 2026 sale and Hilcorp's September relinquishment of its federal leases are reported here as Oil & Gas Journal and the Alaska Beacon reported them; the Federal Register record cited here does not contain a results notice or relinquishment notices. The record cited here contains no comments from the State of Alaska or any local government on the proposal. Quotations from Earthjustice and the Center for Biological Diversity are taken from news reports, not from filings in Docket BOEM-2026-0925.

Sources

  1. Cook Inlet OCS Oil and Gas One Big Beautiful Bill Act Lease Sale 2, Proposed Notice of SaleBureau of Ocean Energy Management, October 9, 2026 · boem.gov
  2. Proposed Notice of Sale, Cook Inlet Oil and Gas Lease Sale BBC2: Lease StipulationsBureau of Ocean Energy Management, October 9, 2026 · boem.gov
  3. Proposed Notice of Sale, Cook Inlet Oil and Gas Lease Sale BBC2: Information to LesseesBureau of Ocean Energy Management, October 9, 2026 · boem.gov
  4. Notice of Availability of the Proposed Notice of Sale for the Cook Inlet Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas One Big Beautiful Bill Act Lease Sale 2, 91 FR 64941 (FR Doc. 2026-20892)Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, October 13, 2026 · federalregister.gov
  5. MMA Announces Proposed Notice of Sale for Second Cook Inlet Lease SaleMarine Minerals Administration (Department of the Interior), October 9, 2026 · boem.gov
  6. Cook Inlet Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas One Big Beautiful Bill Act Lease Sale 1, final notice of sale, 91 FR 4606 (FR Doc. 2026-02094)Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, February 2, 2026 · federalregister.gov
  7. Alaska Outer Continental Shelf, Cook Inlet Planning Area, Oil and Gas Lease Sale 258: notice of availability, record of decision, 90 FR 59864 (FR Doc. 2025-23617)Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, December 22, 2025 · federalregister.gov
  8. An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14, Pub. L. 119-21, sec. 50102 (offshore oil and gas leasing)U.S. Congress, July 4, 2025 · govinfo.gov
  9. Federal government, Alaska host lackluster Cook Inlet lease salesOil & Gas Journal, March 5, 2026 · ogj.com
  10. Second 'Big Beautiful' lease sale in Alaska's Cook Inlet planned after first sale flopsAlaska Beacon (via Alaska Public Media), October 12, 2026 · alaskapublic.org

Subject headings

Cross-references

Other register entries filed under the same subject headings.

  1. No. 0022 · Report · 2 shared headingsBLM proposes 60-day permitting track for NPR-A oil production sites, RIN 1004-AF57, 91 FR 57091
  2. No. 0014 · Report · 2 shared headingsBOEM proposes terms for Northern Mariana Islands seabed minerals sale PACM-2, Docket BOEM-2026-0793
  3. No. 0010 · Rule · 2 shared headingsBSEE and BOEM propose dropping Arctic same-season relief rig mandate, RIN 1082-AA05, 91 FR 50998