Record North Dakota Lease Auction -- Doubled the Previous Record

$5 million is not enough to get the lease you want!

From the Dickinson Press (log-in will be required; free; can be done through Facebook), regarding the North Dakota state auction lease, May 4-5, 2010:

"An oil and gas lease sale at the state Capitol Wednesday raked in about $158 million, doubling in size from a sale six months ago, with McKenzie County leases yielding the second highest total — about $43 million.

The two-day sale held by the North Dakota State Land Department, governed by the Board of University and School Lands, put up about 53,000 mineral acres for lease, less than half of a November 1980 sale, but garnered the largest dollar amount since that time."

(Was that a typo? The spokesperson referenced "a November 1980 sale." Was that supposed to be the "November 2009 sale"?  The data doesn't even go back to 1980; data only goes back to 1995 at the website. Regardless: less than half the number of acres offered this time around compared to the record sale in the past, and this most recent sale not only beat the old record, but DOUBLED it. I cannot believe this is not getting more play in the regional newspapers. Either I am missing something or folks are getting very, very complacent about the Bakken.)

"Linda Fisher, leasing coordinator at NDSLD, said the amount raised was not normal, but enormous. 'There were people that came to the sale with ($5 million to $7 million) in their pocket and never got to spend a dime of it because they couldn’t get any leases,' Fisher said. 'You come to the party with $5 million and you don’t get to spend any of it.'"

The lease sales in February, 2010, totaled $47 million, 2nd highest on record.

The lease sales in November, 2009, totaled $71 million, highest on record.