A record-setting lease sale this week by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management included 19 parcels in Eddy County and 9 in Lea County covering 19,527.56 acres in New Mexico’s Permian Basin. Hart Energy said the sale “drew blockbuster bidding from Devon Energy and private Permian operators, breaking per acre price records for parcels in the Delaware Basin.”
BLM said in Tuesday’s quarterly sale it leased 31 parcels totaling 20,399 acres in New Mexico and Oklahoma for $326,811,240 in total receipts. Combined lease bonus bids and rentals are distributed between the federal government and the state where the parcels are located.
Bill Groffy, acting director, said, “This sale brought in over $218,751 for a single acre, the highest ever earned during a BLM competitive oil and gas lease sale since at least the 1987 Leasing Reform Act… This sale is also the second highest for total bonus bids received at over $316 million and third highest for both bid on a single parcel at over $70 million and average bid per acre at $16,000.”
Oil and gas leases are awarded for a term of 10 years and as long thereafter as there is production of oil and gas in paying quantities and hold a 12.5 percent royalty rate.
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