<p>The man in charge of President Donald Trump’s offshore lease sales for the oil and gas industry is leaving the administration and heading to the private sector.</p>
<p>Two industry sources close to the discussions confirmed to the Washington Examiner that acting director of the Marine Minerals Administration, Matt Giacona, is leaving his post at the start of next month, with his last day set for Sept. 4.</p>
<p>The Marine Minerals Administration, a subagency of the Interior Department, was created in July with the intent of establishing a single federal agency to oversee the development of offshore energy and mineral resources. The agency merges two previous departments, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which were separated following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.</p>
<p>Giacona was also acting director of BOEM before the merger, overseeing all offshore lease sales for oil and gas drilling.</p>
<p>He will be taking a senior role in the government affairs unit at oilfield services company Halliburton.</p>
<p>Halliburton does not own any oil or gas assets itself, but provides drilling services, fracking technologies, and other products to energy companies that own and operate wells.</p>
<p>For example, Halliburton works closely with oil majors such as Chevron, announcing last year that the two had jointly developed an “intelligent” fracking process that provides human workers with real-time feedback on where cracks are forming under a well and whether any drilling process needs to be slowed or halted.</p>
<p>Giacona will start at the oil field services company on Sept. 8, one industry official confirmed.</p>
<p>His replacement has not yet been named.</p>
<p>Prior to serving in the Trump administration, Giacona served as the vice president of government affairs at the National Ocean Industries Association, and had a several-year stint at the International Association of Drilling Contractors.</p>
<p>Giacona is the second senior energy staffer to leave the Trump administration in recent weeks.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, Brittany Kelm left her post on the National Energy Dominance Council to work for a small offshore oil company known as Sable Offshore.</p>
<p>Her departure raised several ethical questions about how public officials interact with industries they regulate. The administration has said that Kelm did not work on “official” matters with Sable while negotiating her new position and that she does not plan to work on “ongoing official matters” between the company and the administration in the new role.</p>
<p>Kelm worked closely with Sable during her stint in the administration, with officials praising her work to restart a pipeline system owned by Sable located off the coast of California as late as June.</p>