February 23, 2010 Lease Sale Information

NOTICE Effective immediately, anyone submitting an informal Expression of Interest (EOI) that certain lands be offered in an oil and gas competitive lease auction and that the EOI includes split estate lands—private surface/Federal minerals—must provide, with the EOI, the name and address of the current private surface owners(s). Whenever a split estate parcel is included in an oil and gas Notice of Competitive Lease Sale, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will send a courtesy letter to the surface owners(s). The letter will provide the surface owner notice of the scheduled auction as well as information about the BLM’s regulations and procedures for Federal oil and gas leasing and development on split estate lands. Any EOI including split estate lands that is submitted in the future, or now pending with a BLM State Office, that does not provide the name and address of the surface owner(s) will not be processed by the BLM and such lands will not be placed on a list of lands included in a Notice of Competitive Lease Sale until the required information is provided. If you have any questions, please contact Teresa Thompson, Land Law Examiner at (801) 539-4047 or Teresa_Thompson@blm.gov.

BLM Utah conducts oil and gas lease sales quarterly in accordance with federal law. Lease parcels are made up of lands that have been determined to be open for leasing through BLM’s land use planning process, and are either nominated or requested by the public. Once parcels are leased, operators are required to submit exploration or development proposals to BLM who conducts an environmental analysis and applies measures to mitigate impacts before work begins.

Half of the royalties from mineral development and leasing goes back to the States. Since the passage for the Mineral Leasing Act in 1920, the State of Utah has received $962,468,000 from mineral revenues on federally managed public lands.

Not all lands that are leased become developed. Leasing enables companies to secure rights to mineral resources before investing in geophysical testing and other kinds of exploratory techniques to determine if development is economically feasible. Less than one percent of all BLM-lands is developed for oil and gas resources.  

Map: Federal and SITLA Oil & Gas Leases
     Current data may also be accessed and viewed 
      using the BLM Land & Minerals Map Viewer at:
                  http://www.geocommunicator.gov/  
  Click map to enlarge
 

• Information Regarding Split Estate
• Lands available for lease within the 2 year window
• Deferred Lands List
      Lands not available for leasing until additional NEPA is completed.
• Pending Protested Leases
     (Waiting on BLM's determination to grant or deny protest)
• Suspended Leases
      (IBLA or District Court) Pending BLM Analysis

2009 November Sale Information
2009 August Sale Information 
2009 June Lease Sale Information 
2009 March Lease Sale Information    

2008 December Lease Sale Information 
2008 August Lease Sale Information 
2008 June Lease Sale Information 
2008 February Lease Sale Information 

2007 August Lease Sale Information 
2007 May Lease Sale Information 
2007 February Lease Sale Information 

2006 Lease Sale Information 
2005 Lease Sale Information 
2004 Lease Sale Information 
2003 Lease Sale Information 
2002 Lease Sale Information  

                   2010 
                Oil & Gas
    Tentative Sale Schedule
_______________________

♦February 23, 2010
  EOI Cutoff:  October 2, 2009
  Posting:  January 8, 2010
  Protest Period Ends: February 9, 2010

♦May 18, 2010
  EOI Cutoff:  January 4, 2010
  Posting:  April 2, 2010
  Protest Period Ends: May 5, 2010

♦August 17, 2010
  EOI Cutoff:  April 2, 2010
  Posting:  July 2, 2010
  Protest Period Ends: August 2, 2010

♦November 16, 2010
  EOI Cutoff:  July 2, 2010
  Posting:  October 1, 2010
  Protest Period Ends: November 1, 2010

Sales will begin at 9:00 a.m. 
The room will open at 7:45 a.m.

* EOI is an "Expression of Interest." Parcels are considered for a sale if the EOIs are submitted before the cutoff date.

Oil and Gas Leasing Qs and As for Industry

General Oil and Gas Leasing Qs and As