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Monday, 06 October, 2008, 13:50 GMT | more prices >>

Utah to host record lease sale



By Upstream staff 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to offer a record 440,000 acres of oil and gas parcels in Utah at its quarterly oil and gas lease sale on 16 May.

The sale will be the largest ever held in Utah in response to escalating demand from operators.

Nearly two-thirds of the offering will include parcels that had been deferred in previous sales.

“The May sale is the most closely scrutinised sale yet,” said Kent Hoffman, Utah BLM Deputy State Director of Lands and Minerals.

“With the revision of BLM’s land use plans pending, BLM had to ensure that leasing certain parcels would not preclude options in making final decisions in the resource management plans. This dramatically increased the complexity of the analysis for these parcels.”

According to the BLM, the average bid per acre for a lease has grown from $10.25 to $113.70 since 2002.

Last year, Utah produced 15.7 million barrels of crude oil and 303.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas—enough to heat about four million homes. Utah consumed 51% of in-state natural gas production, making it a net exporter.

Once a lease is obtained, companies must submit their proposals for exploration and potentially full-field development to the BLM.

The agency requires additional permitting environmental reviews before any surface disturbing activities occur, and applies mitigation measures to minimise impacts.


Thursday, 06 April, 2006, 16:30 GMT  | last updated: Thursday, 06 April, 2006, 16:41 GMT

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