Federal land managers have been roughly maintaining their pace in approving permits to drill since government funding ran out on 30 September, but industry officials worry delays could begin to pile up if the shutdown drags on much longer.
The US Interior Department issued 132 permits approving oil and gas wells on federal lands in the first eight days of the shutdown, six of which were weekdays, according to an online database accessed on Thursday. That is roughly on track with the 124 drilling permits issued in the six weekdays before the shutdown, but about 17pc less than the permitting pace the agency achieved over the first six full months of President Donald Trump's second term.
The US administration said ahead of the shutdown that its goal was to minimize disruptions to industries it sees as key to its energy dominance agenda, while at the same time following Trump's directive to target "Democrat things" to create pressure for funding the government. Since the shutdown began, the administration has held up $18bn in transportation funding in New York and canceled $7.5bn in energy projects primarily in states represented by Democrats in the US Senate. Under Interior's shutdown plan, it has halted all work on offshore wind projects.
The Interior Department, asked for comment about oil and gas permitting, said it was following a shutdown plan under which it said it would use carryover funds and "excepted" staff to continue work on energy permitting and other high-priority projects. The agency has retained 105 employees at the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to work on "time-sensitive" work, such as an expanded offshore leasing plan and a 10 December offshore lease sale
"Despite the Democrats' best efforts to sabotage [Trump's] American energy dominance agenda, Interior will not allow this shutdown to interfere with American energy production!" US interior secretary Doug Burgum said in a social media post on 5 October.
Oil industry officials say they have not seen a significant slowdown in permitting on federal land, but they worry an extended shutdown could strain agencies and risk stalled development. In 2024, oil producers on federal and tribal land produced an average of 3.7mn b/d of crude, equivalent to 28pc of US oil production.
American Exploration & Production Council chief executive Anne Bradbury said the Interior Department "deserves credit" for executing a plan that has maintained oil and gas operations on federal land. Even so, she said the industry trade group believes Congress should "swiftly end this shutdown and avoid the potential risk to domestic energy production and costs to American consumers".
Congress appears to be making little progress in negotiating an end to the shutdown, which has focused in part on tax credits related to healthcare. Trump has refused to negotiate, while threatening deep cuts to Democratic priorities.
"It's early, but it gets a little bit worse as it goes along," Trump said of the shutdown on Thursday. "And we'll be making cuts that will be permanent, and we're only going to cut Democrat programs."
Most federal agencies began furloughing workers on the first day of the shutdown, but others have tapped carryover funds to remain open. The US Energy Information Administration has said it will be able to "operate for a period of time" during a shutdown, and, so far, it has maintained normal operations. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintained some operations, but this week it began executing a plan under which 90pc of employees will be furloughed, according to a group representing former employees. EPA said it was following its plan for a lapse in appropriations but did not answer specific questions.
