ENERGY

Alaska Delays Oil Lease Sales: New state rules established after environmental lawsuits halted oil exploration in Alaska’s Cook Inlet earlier this year have delayed the North Slope and Gulf of Alaska sales, the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas said. Sale 79, comprising 818,392 offshore and onshore acres at Cape Yakataga on the Gulf of Alaska coast, is now delayed until May, 1995, officials said. The sale had been scheduled to be held later this month. Sale 80, comprising about 500,000 onshore North Slope acres on the northeastern border of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, will be delayed until June, 1995, from November. The two lease sales were pushed back by new rules lengthening public-comment periods and increasing requirements for state studies, said Ken Boyd, deputy director of the Division of Oil and Gas.