Washington, D.C. – Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., praised Congressional budget negotiators for including the U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreement in the budget deal struck Tuesday night. Notably, the deal did not include a waiver of Dodd-Frank financial reporting requirements – a waiver the energy industry and Senate had rejected as unnecessary.

“It is good for American energy security, good for jobs and good for the environment to have rules govern energy development in the Gulf of Mexico,” Wyden said. “This agreement will help extend the U.S. energy revolution throughout North America, making the region more competitive and less reliant on politically tumultuous states for energy.”

The Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreement will make nearly 1.5 million acres of the Western Gap of the Outer Continental Shelf available for development. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management estimates these acres could contain up to 172 million barrels of oil and 304 billion cubic feet of natural gas, making the U.S. less dependent on foreign sources of oil and gas.

The Agreement will provide a framework for the U.S. and Mexico to pursue the joint development of shared energy resources. This Agreement resolves claims to a disputed area in the Gulf of Mexico so the energy resources can be developed and the benefits shared by both countries.

The U.S. Senate passed the Agreement in October, by unanimous consent.