Big Beautiful Cook Inlet (BBC1) Oil and Gas Lease Sale

One Big Beautiful Bill Act
Cook Inlet OCS Map

Overview

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act requires BOEM to hold at least six offshore oil and gas lease sales in Alaska, one each year from 2026 to 2028, and again from 2030 to 2032. Big Beautiful Cook Inlet 1 (BBC1) is the first of these required lease sales.

How the process works:

BOEM posts a Proposed Notice of Sale that describes the proposed sale area, terms and how bidding would work. After considering required input from the governor and affected local governments on size, timing and location, BOEM finalizes terms and issues a Final Notice of Sale ahead of bid opening. Companies submit sealed bids and BOEM evaluates high bids for fair market value before awarding leases. Any post-lease activity still requires separate plans and approvals.

What to expect here:

This page will post plain-language updates at each step, key dates, maps of the proposed sale area, and links to source documents such as the Proposed Notice of Sale, the Notice of Availability and the Final Notice of Sale when issued.  

Chronology
2025
Nov 7 

BOEM announced the Proposed Notice of Sale for the first offshore oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The proposed sale, known as “Big Beautiful Cook Inlet 1,” would make approximately one million acres available for leasing—furthering efforts to expand domestic energy production and strengthen U.S. energy security in alignment with President Trump’s energy policy.

A Notice of Availability for the Proposed Notice of Sale will publish in the Federal Register on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. This publication will begin the 60-day governor’s comment period referenced above, which will end at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.

July 4 

President Donald Trump signs Public Law 119-21 (the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”). Among other provisions, the bill stipulates that:

(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior shall conduct a minimum of 6 offshore lease sales, in a manner consistent with the schedule described in subparagraph (B), in the Cook Inlet Planning Area as identified in the 2017–2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program published on November 18, 2016, by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (as announced in the notice of availability of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management entitled ‘‘Notice of Availability of the 2017–2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program’’ (81 Fed. Reg. 84612 (November 23, 2016))).

(B) TIMING REQUIREMENT.—Of the not fewer than 6 lease sales required under this paragraph, the Secretary of the Interior shall hold not fewer than 1 lease sale in the area described in subparagraph (A) in each of calendar years 2026 through 2028, and in each of calendar years 2030 through 2032, by March 15 of the applicable calendar year.