Some analysts believe energy companies won’t accept the 15-20% of the leases allowed as they are some of the less valuable locations. Administration is also restructuring the agreements to require higher royalties from any resulting production.

Even with currently high oil prices (potentially higher revenues), energy companies may not accept the new opportunities. If some new locations are used, however, it may take significant time for any leases to produce significantly relevant quantities of oil / gas to impact current energy prices.

Given lag time between land lease and delivery, these new leases may not have any noticeable impact prior to the November elections, other than the appearance of the administration apparently making more of the federal leases available on the market.