For Release: August 1, 2006
Contact: David Christy, (916) 985-4474
CA-CC-06-62

BLM Offers Oil and Gas Leases in Former NPR-2

On September 13, the Bureau of Land Management will auction oil and gas leases in the former Naval Petroleum Reserve-2, the first time such leases have been offered in more than 80 years. Oil and gas leases will be offered at the auction in Bakersfield on five parcels of land covering approximately 2,533 acres in Kern County in the Buena Vista oil fields.

The Department of Interior issued oil and gas leases on the property in the 1920s. The land later was transferred to the Navy and then the Department of Energy. The 2005 Energy Policy Act transferred the land to BLM. BLM is the federal agency designated to offer oil and gas leases.

BLM owns both the surface and mineral rights on four parcels. One parcel has a mixture of both BLM land and land with other surface ownership, but surface access is limited to the federal property.

The lease auction will be at the Holiday Inn Select, 801 Truxtun Ave., Bakersfield, Calif. The room will open at 8 a.m. to allow bidders to register and obtain a bid number. The competitive oral auction will begin at 9 a.m.

A detailed notice of the lease auction with parcel descriptions, acreage, lease terms and conditions, oral bidding procedures and requirements, and other information and the Lease Sale Parcel Map are available online at http://www.blm.gov/ca/pa/minerals/compsales.html. Copies of the lease auction notice are also available for public review at the BLM State Office in Sacramento and the BLM Bakersfield Field Office. Lease auction notice copies can be purchased for $5 from BLM's Public Room in Sacramento at (916) 978-4400.

BLM is required by law to periodically offer federal lands for lease for oil and gas exploration and development. The oil and gas industry is encouraged to submit an "expression of interest" for federal land parcels in California that have potential for development.
Further information regarding the lease auction can be obtained from Laurie Moore at the BLM California State Office, telephone (916) 978-4377 or Nora DeDios at the BLM Bakersfield Field Office, telephone (661) 391-6129.

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