BLM to Hold Federal Oil and Gas Lease Sale on January 18, 2012

Santa Fe, N.M. - The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is offering oil and gas leasing mineral rights on 43 parcels totaling 27,768.50 acres located on Federal lands in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The oral auction will take place on Wednesday, January 18, 2012, at the BLM New Mexico State Office, 301 Dinosaur Trail, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

BLM representatives will be available in the lobby at 8 a.m. to allow each interested party time to obtain a bidding number. The sale will begin promptly at 9 a.m. Only oral bids offered at the sale will be accepted. Parcels will be awarded to qualified bidders offering the highest acceptable bid. The minimum acceptable bid is $2 per acre.

The breakdown by state is as follows:
     • 14 parcels totaling 4,744.17 acres in New Mexico;
     • 20 parcels totaling 17,119.78 acres in Oklahoma; and
     • 9 parcels totaling 5,904.55 acres in Texas.

The lease sale notice can be found at: 
http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/energy/oil_and_gas/lease_sale_notices.html.

Leases are awarded for a period of 10 years and as long thereafter as there is production in paying quantities. The Federal government receives 12.5 percent royalties on production from those leases. Fifty-two percent of the revenues from Federal lease sales is returned to the U.S. government and 48 percent goes to the state where the mineral lease occurs. 

Over the past 10 years, New Mexico has received over $4 billion from BLM-managed Federal leases, all of which has been allocated directly to public education.