Following a court decision to expand the sale, the Biden administration said on Thursday that it would host an auction of oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico on November 8.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management stated in a statement that the sale will provide around 72.7 million acres on the Outer Continental Shelf, including 6 million acres it had withdrew from the auction in an effort to safeguard the habitat of the endangered Rice's whale.

A U.S. appeals court allowed the administration an extension last month, extending the sale's original Sept. 27 deadline to Nov. 8. That came as a result of a federal judge's decision in an oil and gas firms' lawsuit mandating an expansion of the sale.

According to a five-year schedule the government announced last week that includes a historically low number of planned lease sales, the November sale is likely to be the only federal offshore oil and gas auction until 2025.

US sets Gulf of Mexico, Court Order, Gulf of Mexico, Lease Sale Date Following Court Order