BLM Oil Lease Sale Nets $7.35 Million
Following an injunction from the Western District of Louisiana, the Bureau of Land Management Montana/ Dakotas State Office conducted a lease sale offering 23 parcels totaling 3,405.8 acres in Montana and North Dakota last week.
Nineteen parcels were sold for a total of $7,354,562. Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation of Denver, Colo., was the highest bidder, with a total bonus bid of $2,346,485,50 for a 68.53-acre parcel in Mountrail County, N.D.
The parcels offered for sale reflect recommendations from the Department of the Interior’s Report on the Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Program, as well as other reports issued by the Governmental Accountability Office and Congressional Budget Office; input from Tribal consultation and environmental review; and resolution of protests received.
In this competitive lease sale, the BLM applied a first-ever increased royalty rate of 18.75 percent for the leases sold, in keeping with rates charged by states and private landowners.
Links to the environmental assessment, maps, parcel lists, Notice of Competitive Lease Sale, and proposed lease stipulations are available online at the BLM ePlanning website at https://eplanning.blm. gov/eplanning- u i /pro j ect/2015346/510.
Information on current and upcoming BLM lease sales is available through the National Fluid Lease Sale System.
