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The United States Department of the Interior has canceled three off-shore oil and gas leases. The agency said that it would not move forward with a one million acre lease in Alaska's Cook Inlet due to a lack of interest by the oil industry. In addition, two other leases in the Gulf of Mexico will not be sold due to conflicting court rulings.
"Due to lack of industry interest in leasing in the area, the Department will not move forward with the proposed Cook Inlet OCS oil and gas lease sale 258," a DOI spokesperson told FOX Business.
"The Department also will not move forward with lease sales 259 and 261 in the Gulf of Mexico region, as a result of delays due to factors including conflicting court rulings that impacted work on these proposed lease sales," the spokesperson added.
In addition to the three canceled sales, the Washington, D.C., District Court invalidated another gas lease in the Gulf of Mexico in January. The Biden administration indicated that it had no plans to appeal the ruling.
The decision to cancel the leases comes as the U.S. grapples with record-high fuel prices. According to AAA's fuel price tracker, the average cost for a gallon of regular gas is now $4.418. That is more than 30 cents higher than last month and $1.40 more expensive than it was a year ago.