Utah Upcoming Oil and Gas Lease Sales

The Oil & Gas Lease Sales map below shows parcels proposed to be offered for lease by the Bureau of Land Management. This interactive map shows current and upcoming lease sales and their conflicts with wildlife and natural areas. More information on upcoming leases is shown below the map.

Advice on how to use the map: Zoom in for more detail. Select the layer list icon in the upper left, expand and turn on conservation_conflicts and other layers and sublayers. Click on parcels or conservation conflict areas for more information. Scroll through pop-ups for multiple overlapping areas by clicking on the right triangle/arrow.

December (Fourth Quarter) 2025 Lease Sale

Scoping (posted 4/15/2025)

  • Comments on the parcels included in the Parcel List for the proposed Utah Fourth Quarter (Q4) 2025 Lease Sale must be received by Friday, May 16, 2025. There is more information and a link to submit comments on the Utah 2025 Fourth Quarter Oil and Gas Competitive Lease Sale ePlanning website and with additional information in the Press Release and on the Utah Oil and Gas Lease Sales Web Page.
  • According to the announcement and documents, Utah Bureau of Land Management is proposing to offer 46 parcels/68,263.38 acres in Uintah County in the Vernal Field Office.
  • Rocky Mountain Wild has prepared a screen showing conflicts between the proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness and other resource values.
  • Wildlife and plant conflicts identified:
    • General habitat for greater sage-grouse including brood and winter habitat
    • Habitat for Mexican spotted owl, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)
    • Habitat for rare plants including shrubby reed-mustard (Schoenocrambe suffrutescens; ESA Endangered), clay reed-mustard (Schoenocrambe argillacea), Ute ladies’-tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis; ESA threatened), and proposed critical habitat for Graham’s beardtongue (Penstemon grahamii)
    • Crucial winter habitat for elk and mule deer
    • Crucial fawning habitat forpronghorn
  • Wildlands conflicts identified:
    • Lands identified by the Bureau of Land Management and conservation organizations as having wilderness characteristics (Lower Bitter Creek)
    • Lands proposed for Wilderness protection by the U.S. Congress (Lower Bitter Creek and Sunday School Canyon)
    • Land adjacent to the Winter Ridge Wilderness Study Area
  • Note that all of the proposed parcels are on lands identified as medium or high potential for oil and gas development.
  • Scoping Parcels: Google Earth kmz | Zipped Shapefile
  • Scoping ABI Screen, a spreadsheet showing conflicts between the proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness and other resource values.

September (Third Quarter) 2025 Lease Sale

Scoping (posted 2/25/2025)

  • Comments on the parcels included in the Parcel List for the proposed Utah Third Quarter (Q3) 2025 Lease Sale must be received by Friday, March 28, 2025. There is more information and a link to submit comments on the Utah 2025 Third Quarter Oil and Gas Competitive Lease Sale ePlanning website and with additional information on the Utah Oil and Gas Lease Sales Web Page.
  • According to the announcement and documents, Utah Bureau of Land Management is proposing to offer 25 parcels/39,868.14 acres in Sanpete and Uintah Counties in the Richfield and Vernal Field Offices.
  • Rocky Mountain Wild has prepared a screen showing conflicts between the proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness and other resource values.
  • Wildlife and plant conflicts identified:
    • Critical habitat for Colorado pikeminnow
    • General habitat for greater sage-grouse including brood and winter habitat
    • White-tailed prairie dog area
    • Black-footed ferret management area
    • Crucial winter habitat for elk and mule deer
    • Crucial fawning habitat for mule deer and pronghorn
    • Duchesne milkvetch (vulnerable plant)
  • Wildlands conflicts identified:
    • Lands identified by the Bureau of Land Management and conservation organizations as having wilderness characteristics
    • Lands proposed for Wilderness protection by the U.S. Congress
    • Land adjacent to the Winter Ridge Wilderness Study Area
    • Land within 10 miles of Dinosaur National Monument
    • Human-powered recreation footprint (Outdoor Alliance)
  • Note that all of the proposed parcels are on lands identified as medium or high potential for oil and gas development.
  • Scoping Parcels: Google Earth kmz | Zipped Shapefile
  • Scoping ABI Screen, a spreadsheet showing conflicts between the proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness and other resource values.

June 3, (Second Quarter) 2025 Lease Sale

Sale Note Amendments (posted 4/4/2025)

  • Utah Bureau of Land Management announced that it was adding 11 parcels / 20,045 acres to the Q2 2025 lease sale. All 11 of these parcels were originally offered and went unsold in the September 2023 lease sale.
  • The Bureau has opened up a second protest period for these additional parcels. The sale has been pushed to June 3 (from May 17) to accommodate the second protest period. Protests are due Monday, May 5, 2025. There is important information on how to protest on the Utah 2025 Second Quarter Oil and Gas Competitive Lease Sale ePlanning website and with additional information on the Utah Oil and Gas Lease Sales Web Page.
  • According to the press release and documents, Utah Bureau of Land Management is proposing to offer 13 parcels/20,888 acres in the Sanpete and Uintah Counties in the Richfield and Vernal Fields Office.
  • Rocky Mountain Wild has prepared a screen showing conflicts between the proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness and other resource values.
    • Conflicts identified for the parcels added include:
      • Crucial winter/spring habitat for mule deer
      • The Bureau included stipulations that suggest most of the parcels added overlap habitat for federally threatened Ute ladies’-tresses
    • Conflicts identified for the parcels in the original sale notice include:
      • White-tailed prairie dog area
      • Black-footed ferret management area
      • Crucial fawning habitat for pronghorn
  • Note that all of the parcels are on areas identified as having medium or high oil and gas development potential.
  • Sale Notice Amended Parcels: Google Earth kmz | Zipped Shapefile
  • Sale Notice Amended ABI Screen, a spreadsheet showing conflicts between the proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness and other resource values.

Sale Notice (posted 12/18/2024)

Draft Environmental Assessment (posted 6/24/2024)

Scoping (posted 2/14/2024)

Resources

*The Research Map doesn’t work in all web browsers. I was able to successfully access the map in the Firefox browser on a Windows PC on 6/17/2024.