Biden administration reinstates halted oil drilling permits in Alaska

In order to build and expand oil drilling projects in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the state of Alaska was awarded oil drilling leases in 2017. The White House administration of President Joe Biden has revealed plans to formally revoke these leases.

The leases, issued by the former administration of Donald Trump, allowed for the extraction of fossil fuels from the wildlife reserve, which could have added an additional 11 billion barrels of crude oil to the American energy sector.

The action was taken after the Biden administration on its first day in office issued an executive order temporarily stopping all oil drilling operations in the Alaskan refuge.

The research performed by the Trump administration before to selling the leases, which attracted only three bidders, was deemed to have “multiple legal deficiencies” by an official investigation.

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state-run organisation, was one of those bidders. The formal cancellations are anticipated to be challenged in court by the AIDEA and its director, Randy Ruaro.


The effects of after-hours trade have been minimal due to the closed US oil markets. Future restrictions on US oil production will not significantly lower already-high oil prices. The WTI barrel reached its highest price ever on Wednesday, closing at $87.50.