Colorado BLM auctions of oil, gas leases nets $112,969
By APFriday, November 13, 2009
Colo. BLM auctions oil, gas leases for $112,969
DENVER — Federal officials have sold oil and gas leases on a total of about 6,000 acres in Colorado for $112,969.
The highest per-acre price in the auction Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management was $215 for an 81-acre parcel in Rio Blanco County sold to Exxon Mobil Corp.
BLM spokesman Jim Sample said the total acreage was the third-smallest leased in Colorado since the late 1970s.
Quarterly auctions of leases for federal minerals typically totaled tens of thousands of acres during Colorado’s recent natural gas boom. The pace of leasing has slowed as natural gas prices have dropped and the economy has slumped.
The state of Colorado will receive 49 percent of the revenue from Thursday’s lease auction.
