Record Paid for North Dakota Oil and Gas Mineral Acre -- $19,500/Acre

Results of the BLM Montana/Dakotas lease sales yesterday (January 30) in Billings, MT, as reported in The Dickinson Press. [This was the "federal" auction -- the BLM auction. I believe the next North Dakota state auction is February 5, 2013.]

Data points of the BLM auction:

• Total bonuses to be shared by the federal government and the states: $11.4 million
• Acreage: 3,000 acres
• BOE calc: $3,800/acre

• North Dakota: 2,831 acres (94% of the acreage)
• Highest single tract: Slawson, 80 acres in Mountrail County; $1.6 million; $19,500/acre

• North Dakota: will receive almost 50% of the proceeds ($5.5 million); the federal govt the rest; both entities will get 12.5% royalties on production

• Next auctions: May, July, and October

• Leases are good for ten (10) years or as long as they continue to produce oil

From the story:

Thanks in part to the development of the Bakken play, the U.S. currently is importing less than 50 percent of the oil consumed nationwide, according to BLM statistics. Those same statistics also show that the price drilling companies are willing to pay for onshore parcels has more than tripled in the past three years, roughly the time period when the Bakken began to explode on the scene.

Ah, yes, I do remember the naysayers. Opportunities missed.