Following the end of the 26th United Nations climate conference (COP26), the US government will auction off new oil and gas exploration permits in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday. This sale could lead to the exploitation of hundreds of millions of barrels of oil over the next few years.
Joe Biden had promised during the election campaign to put an end to the sales of exploration permits in the territories of federal jurisdiction, before imposing a moratorium in early 2021, while an environmental assessment is carried out.
However, this decision has been challenged in court by 13 states, which believe Washington has exceeded its powers. In June, a Louisiana federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump ruled in their favor. This has paved the way for the auctioning of new permits in this region, which already has many of these permits.
The sale, scheduled for Wednesday, provides that oil and gas companies will be able to bid on new permits totaling more than 320,000 km2 of territory in the Gulf of Mexico. According to preliminary estimates, the projects resulting from this auction could lead to the exploitation of more than 1.1 billion barrels of oil and 4200 billion cubic feet of natural gas over the next 50 years. years.
The Gulf of Mexico was the scene in 2010 of the worst oil spill in US history, when the BP oil company Deepwater Horizon exploded. The accident spilled over five million barrels of crude oil in five months. This oil spill had impacts on the Gulf ecosystem, but also on the coasts of several states and on the fishing industry.
Oil and the climate crisis
Even though the Biden administration has appealed the court decision that allowed this new sale of exploration permits, environmental organizations have denounced this door open to an increase in the use of fossil fuels, at a time when the climate crisis is more severe than ever.
“This sale is deeply disappointing. The Biden administration has bowed to the oil industry, relying on its campaign of disinformation and political pressure, ignoring the growing climate emergency we face, ”laments the organization Earthjustice, which challenges the decision in court.
According to the International Energy Agency, we must immediately abandon any new project for the exploration and exploitation of fossil fuels in the hope of limiting global warming to a safe threshold.
However, the production of fossil fuels planned for the coming years is far too important to hope to limit global warming to a viable threshold, concluded in October an analysis drafted in particular by UN experts.
More specifically, the major producer countries plan to use around 110% more fossil fuels in 2030 than what would be consistent with the most ambitious objective of the Paris Agreement, namely that of limiting global warming to 1.5. ° C compared to the pre-industrial era. This same production will be 45% higher than what would make it possible not to exceed a global warming of 2 ° C.