BLM Wyoming Oil and Gas

BLM Wyoming manages more than 42 million acres of fluid mineral estate in Wyoming and Nebraska and administers more than 10 million acres of federal oil and gas leases, the largest area of any state in the nation. In Fiscal Year 2015, Wyoming's federal oil and gas leases yielded 44 million barrels of oil and 1.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, generating over $760 million of revenue for the public. Each year, the BLM returns about half of the mineral royalties collected to the State of Wyoming to find state priorities as it sees fit.

The BLM offers oil and gas leases that have been nominated for sale in quarterly competitive online auctions. Once a lease is issued, the lessee has exclusive rights to develop the federal minerals within the lease, subject to BLM approval. The BLM uses a variety of tools and strategies to ensure development of federal minerals is safe and responsible, including environmental analysis, lease stipulations, conditions of approval, inspection and enforcement and reclamation requirements.