| Contacts: | Vanessa Delgado, Public Affairs Specialist, 303-239-3681 | |||
| Jim Sample, Public Affairs Specialist, 303-239-3861 |
BLM oil and gas lease sale nets $543,813
DENVER Today the Bureau of Land Management Colorado State Office sold two parcels totaling 1,608.69 acres for $543,813 at its quarterly oil and gas lease sale. The highest per-acre price was for a 648.69-acre parcel in Rio Blanco County that sold to Treasure Resources Inc., in Windsor Colo., for $390 per acre. The high bonus bid of $288,000 was made by the same company for a 960-acre parcel, also in Rio Blanco County.
The State of Colorado will receive 49 percent of the proceeds of the sale, with the remainder going to the federal government.
The State of Colorado received more than $229.4 million in Fiscal Year 2010 from royalties, rentals and bonus bid payments for all federal minerals, including oil, gas and coal.
A lease is the first step for a company or individual before eventually applying to develop and produce oil and gas from the BLM-managed public mineral estate. Additional planning, environmental analysis and public input must occur before drilling can begin.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
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