Update: On Monday, November 16, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Interior called for companies to begin reserving tracts to bid on during an upcoming sale of oil leases in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. In August, Interior said it would begin selling the leases possibly before the end of 2020. But environmental groups promised to continue challenging the effort in court, and drilling in the refuge is unlikely to begin for years. With oil prices still low following their historic plunge earlier this year, it's also uncertain how much industry interest there will be in new leases.
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