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BLM oil and gas lease sale nets $4.8 million (05-10-12)
DENVER -Today the Bureau of Land Management Colorado State Office sold 30 parcels totaling 28,371 acres for $4.8 million including rentals and fees at its quarterly oil and gas lease sale. The highest per-acre price was for a 1,917-acre parcel in Rio Blanco County sold to Contex Energy Co., in Denver for $600 per acre.
The State of Colorado will receive 49 percent of the proceeds of the sale, with the remainder going to the U.S. government. The State of Colorado received more than $154 million in Fiscal Year 2011 from royalties, rentals and bonus bid payments for all federal minerals, including oil and gas. BLM Colorado currently has approximately 4.4 million acres of public mineral estate leased for oil and natural gas development, generating more than $2.9 billion in direct economic benefits in 2010, and approximately $4.9 billion in total economic impacts.
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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