The US will accelerate the issuance of permits for the exploration of oil and gas on the federal lands

   348

According to Zinke, under the administration of the previous U.S. President Barak Obama, this process was too prolonged - in 2016, the examination of applications took an average of 257 days.

The profile ministry plans to shorten this period to 30 days, the corresponding order will be transferred to the U.S. Bureau of Governmental and Public Lands.

This initiative aroused criticism from environmentalists, who said that companies already rented a huge number of federal sites, but was forced to postpone drilling because of low hydrocarbon prices.

The head of the Western Values ​​Project said that gas prices were at historic lows, and companies did not use the millions of acres they had already leased, so there was no point in handing them over more sites.

Oil production on federal lands grew by 77% in 2008-2015, added in the organization.

The United States increased oil production by more than 10% from mid-2016 to 9.34 million barrels per day, which is close to the levels of Saudi Arabia and Russia. Acting President of the United States Donald Trump has repeatedly stated his intention to achieve the country's energy independence.