A Biden administration will restart oil and gas leasing on federal lands as it faces mounting pressure to reduce high oil prices, withdrawing from a freeze that had angered industry executives.

About 144,000 acres of public land will be sold next week, the Interior Department said on Friday, marking the end of a moratorium on new leases imposed by the president during one of his earliest terms.In June last year, a federal court in Louisiana ordered the Biden administration Restart the rental program.

The new leases will charge oil and gas producers higher royalties than before – 18.75 per cent compared to 12.5 per cent previously – and will significantly reduce the amount of land to be auctioned compared to the amount required by the industry.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said, “Today, we begin to realign the ways and means of what we believe to be the highest and best use of American resources for the benefit of present and future generations.”

The move comes at a time when President Joe Biden finds himself under increasing political pressure over high oil prices, which has driven inflation soaring. The national average gasoline price on Friday was $4.07 a gallon, down from a recent high of $4.33 a gallon last month, but still more than 70% higher than when the president took office.

Biden has used a variety of tactics to keep prices down.Earlier this month, he announced a Unprecedented release 180 million barrels of crude oil from the government’s strategic reserves have contributed to the recent drop in global oil prices.

He has also relied on Gulf allies and U.S. oil and gas producers to boost output, with little success. The lease announcement comes just days after the government’s latest effort to moderate prices by lifting seasonal restrictions on ethanol blends in gasoline.

The energy crisis has taken precedence over the government’s climate agenda in recent months, frustrating environmentalists.

Tackling climate change is at the heart of the presidential campaign, and he has promised to “no longer drill on public lands” if he is elected. In January 2021, he signed an executive order freezing new lease sales of 245 million acres of public land in the country pending review. A report by the Home Office in November recommended an overhaul of the system.

With oil and gas production on federal onshore land accounting for less than 10% of total U.S. production, restarting leases that take months or even years to generate new production is unlikely to have a significant impact on global oil prices, analysts said.

Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s largest lobbying group, said he welcomed the restart of leases but said restrictions on acreage and higher royalties could “impede access to federal land.” Oil and Gas Investments”.

“We are concerned that this action adds new barriers to increasing energy production, including the removal of some of the most important packages,” Macchiarola said.