Trump’s administration opened an oil and gas lease sale for 2,800 acres in New Mexico on Wednesday. This was the first auction since March when oil prices collapsed due to measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This will be followed by a larger 45,000-acre sale in New Mexico and Texas on Thursday. The first auction, however, attracted bids that are weaker than before the pandemic, Reuters reported.
According to the report, the average bid for nine parcels in New Mexico in the latest auctions stood at $466 per acre, lower than thousands of dollars per acre before the pandemic in the same state. However, a spokesperson with the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in New Mexico said the bid prices were competitive.
