Number of New Oil Wells and New Leases Have Decreased Under Obama, Data from BLM Show

Since President Obama took office, both the number of new drilling operations started on federal lands and the number of new leases for oil operations on federal lands has decreased, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) data show. In fiscal year 2008, the last official year of the President George W. Bush’s administration, 5,044 new oil wells were started, meaning that actual drilling began, which is what oil firms refer to as “spudding in” or to “spud” a well bore. In FY 2009, however, in Obama’s first year as president, there were 3,267 wells spudded, a decline of 1,777. The number of new oil drilling leases also declined under Obama, according to the Bureau of Land Management...more