La. to share in $2M-plus from mineral leases

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Leasing of oil and gas recovery rights on national forest land in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi will provide more than $2 million to those three state governments, the federal Bureau of Land Management said last Wednesday.

A news release from the BLM said that, at a Dec. 14 auction, subsurface mineral rights were offered on 192 parcels in the three states, and high bids on 153 of those parcels totaled more than $7.8 million.

The release did not break down the sales by states, or by individual forests in each state. In Arkansas, the parcels were in the Ouachita, Ozark and St. Francis national forests, the agency said.

The release said high bidders obtain a lease to explore for oil and gas deposits. The federal government gets a royalty of 12 1/2 percent of the value of production and each state government receives a 25 percent minimum share of the bonus bid and the royalty revenue from each lease issued in that state, BLM said.

Regulations require the bidding to open at $2 per acre. The highest per-acre bid was from Mason Dixon Energy Inc. of Bridgeport, W.Va., with a bid of $580 per acre. Mason Dixon Energy also had the highest total bid, paying $447,904 for the rights to 835 acres in Arkansas.