DOINews: Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Strategy

03/31/2010
Last edited 09/29/2021

As part of President Obama's comprehensive energy plan for the country, the Department of the Interior is pursuing a balanced, science-based strategy for exploring and developing oil and gas resources on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Under this strategy, Interior is expanding offshore oil and gas exploration and development in the right ways and in the right places, providing order and certainty to industry and investors, and delivering a fair return to American taxpayers for the use of their resources. The Obama Administration's strategy uses science and new technologies to expand oil and gas production on the Outer Continental Shelf, while protecting fisheries, tourism, and places off our coasts that are too special to drill. The Administration is working to expand development and production in new areas, such as the Eastern Gulf of Mexico; significantly increase oil and gas exploration in frontier areas, such as the Arctic Ocean and areas in the Atlantic Ocean; and protect areas that are simply too special to drill, such as Alaska's Bristol Bay.

  • DEVELOP: We are opening new areas for offshore oil and gas development as part of a comprehensive energy plan for the country.
  • EXPLORE: We are expanding offshore oil and gas exploration and scientific analysis to gather the information we need to develop resources in the right places and the right ways.
  • PROTECT: We are protecting special places that are simply not appropriate for oil and gas drilling.

Click on the maps below to learn more about the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific and Alaska regions.

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