Independent Petroleum Association of America applauds oil and natural gas permitting secretarial order

The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) recently expressed its support of a secretarial order from Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke aimed at streamlining the oil and gas permitting process on federal lands.

“IPAA welcomes today’s secretarial order, which will restore certainty and efficiency to the federal permitting process,” IPAA Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Political Affairs Dan Naatz said. “Long-term business planning and certainty is a critical component to the leasing process for oil and natural gas producers. Reinstating quarterly lease sales is vital as independent producers consider future American energy opportunities on federal lands.

The order will modify the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Program and the Federal Solid Mineral Leasing Program. It is aimed at streamlining the permitting process, as well as increasing access to certain federal lands for oil and gas development. IPAA also suggested using dedicated funds to streamline permitting to hire more staff to process drilling permits.

“In addition to enforcing the sections of the Minerals Leasing Act that require the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to hold quarterly lease sales and keep permitting processing times to under 30 days, IPAA looks forward to working with the Secretary to highlight tools that could be helpful in expediting the permitting process, such as utilizing categorical exclusions as well as Memorandums of Understanding and Memorandums of Agreement,” Naatz said.