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

Draft Environmental Assessment (posted 7/8/2025)

  • Comments on the Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) (pdf document) for the proposed Utah Fourth Quarter (December) 2025 Lease Sale must be received by 4:30 p.m. MT Friday, August 8, 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 analyzing 3 proposals to offer leases for oil and gas development in Uintah County in the Vernal Field Office. Alternative A, the Proposed Action would offer 46 parcels/68,263.38 acres. Alternative B, the Greater Sage-Grouse Avoidance Alternative would offer 7 parcels / 11,103.00 acres. Alternative C, the Reed Mustards and Sensitive Penstemon Species Avoidance Alternative would offer 23 parcels / 33,427.53 acres.
  • 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)
    • Proposed critical habitat for Graham’s beardtongue (Penstemon grahamii) (Alternative A and B only)
    • Crucial winter habitat for elk and mule deer
    • Crucial fawning habitat for pronghorn (Alternatives A and C only)
  • 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.
  • Alternative A – Proposed Action
  • Alternative B – Greater Sage-Grouse Avoidance Alternative
  • Alternative C – Reed Mustards and Sensitive Penstemon Species Avoidance Alternative

Scoping (posted 4/15/2025)

September (Third Quarter) 2025 Lease Sale

Draft Environmental Assessment (posted 5/7/2025)

  • Comments on the Draft Environmental Assessmen (EA) (pdf document) for the proposed Utah Third Quarter (Q3) 2025 Lease Sale must be received by Friday, June 6, 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 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 analyzing two alternatives. In Alternative A, the Proposed Action, they are proposing to offer 14 parcels/19,823.72 acres. In Alternative B, the Greater Sage-Grouse Alternative, they are proposing to offer 10 parcels/13,800.78 acres. The parcels they are analyzing are 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:
    • Colorado River fish listed as endangered by the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) including Critical habitat for Colorado pikeminnow and overall range for bonytail and Razorback sucker
    • Overall range for Mexican spotted owl (FWS listed threatened)
    • Rare plants: occurrence of duchesne milkvetch (Alternative A only), overall range for Shrubby reed-mustard range (FWS listed endangered), and overall range for Ute’s ladies-tresses (FWS llisted threatened)
    • General habitat for greater sage-grouse including brood and winter habitat (Alternative A only)
    • White-tailed prairie dog area
    • Black-footed ferret management area and FWS designated experimental range
    • Crucial winter habitat for elk and mule deer
    • Crucial fawning habitat for mule deer and pronghorn
  • 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 (Alternative A only)
    • 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.
  • Draft EA Alternative A (Proposed Action) Parcels: Google Earth kmz | Zipped Shapefile
  • Draft EA Alternative B (Greater Sage-Grouse Alternative) Parcels: Google Earth kmz | Zipped Shapefile
  • Draft EA Alternative A ABI Screen, a spreadsheet showing conflicts between the proposed parcels and important wildlife, wilderness and other resource values
  • Draft EA Alternative B ABI Screen

Scoping (posted 2/25/2025)

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.