The first lease sale for the Gulf of Mexico during President Trump’s second term drew bids worth close to $300 million, with the average price bid per acre the highest in eight years. The total, however, was $100 lower than the bids made in the last Gulf lease sale, back in 2023. The Trump administration plans a total of 30 lease sales for offshore oil and gas, to run until 2040. The series should tap a total of 29.6 billion barrels of crude oil and 55 trillion cu ft of natural gas. This was the first in the series, aimed at advancing the…