The US Interior Department has approved more than 500 drilling permits on federal lands and waters since January, despite the Biden administration's halt to new lease sales. The agency has not said when it might resume leasing, other than canceling any sales through June.

Producer-state senators contend that this pause will turn into a permanent ban. Senator John Hoeven, Republican-North Dakota, made that case on the Capitol Crude podcast May 3. We took a look at how the leasing review is actually impacting US oil production.

Ash Singh, S&P Global Platts manager of supply and production analytics, shares the latest outlook and gives his prediction for how leasing might resume. He also gets into the current economic climate for US drillers and how capital discipline is playing out in the early stages of pandemic recovery.

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