ND State Oil And Gas Lease Auction -- May, 2017

Disclaimer: I went through the spreadsheet quickly and did not double-check the numbers. In most cases I counted the tracts once and most likely made mistakes in counting. There will likely be other factual and typographical errors. If this information is important to you, go to the source.

Note: I notice that I may have forgotten to post the results from the February, 2017, sale but a quick look at that sale did not reveal anything particularly noteworthy, although, like May, 2017, a lot of parcels were sold. 

It's my impression that activity with regard to oil and gas lease auction picked up considerably in May. The number of tracts bought is quite remarkable and folks are getting tracts at fire-sale prices. Yes, I know it's location, location, location, but compare these with the prices being paid in the Permian. These are prices similar to those paid before the Bakken boom, before folks knew what was there. Probably inappropriate exuberance on my part. Without further ado, the summary:

Billings County

• 26 parcels, more or less
• range: $1 to $126/acre
• mostly below $10

Bowman County

• 14 tracts
• range $1 - $7/acre or thereabouts, except for two tracts, one for $27/acre and one for $38/acre
• Northern Energy bought most of the parcels
• Skyworld Oil ND Ltd bought three parcels
• Yockim Resources Exploration Co bought one parcel

Burke County

• 2 parcels (triple-checked)
• a 40-acre tract for $982/acre; Liberty Resources LL
• an 80-acre tract for $41/acre; Northern Energy Corp

Divide County

• 34 parcels, more or less 
• range: $12 to $510/acre
• NP Resources made a number of purchases, paying top dollar in Divide County
• a 160-acre parcel for $510/acre, NP Resources 
• a 160-acre parcel for $387/acre, NP Resources

Dunn County

• 52 parcels, more or less
• range: $1 to $123/acre
• Dunn County: one of the four top Bakken counties
• most of the tracts in Dunn county for for $1 - $3/acre -- yes, you read that correctly
• at the other end, Northern Energy paid $123/acre for a 160-acre parcel 

Golden Valley

• 8 parcels
• range: $2 - $7

McKenzie

• 15 parcels
• range: $56 - $1,513 but most between $156 - $1,027, it appears, but wide differences
• a 160-acre parcel for $1,027/acre; Marshall & Winston Inc
• a 3.3 acre parcel -- no typo -- a little more than 3 acres for $1,513/acre; KKREP, LLC (private E & P company out of St John, Indiana)

Mountrail

• 6 parcels
• most expensive parcel among the counties
• an 80-acre parcel for $7,002/acre; Petroshale; section 5-151-91
• one could have gotten an 80-acre parcel for $86/acre nearby (section 17-151-19)
• the other four tracts unremarkable 

Rolette

• 2 tracts, both for $27/acre
• Northern Energy Corp and Coyote Oil & Gas Company LLC

Slope

• 21 parcels
• mostly 80-acre and 160-acre parcels; all from $2 to $4
• with exception of three parcels being bought by Skyworld Oil ND Ltd, the other parcels were pretty much evenly divided between Northern Energy and Interwest Petroleum Corp

Stark

• 20 parcels
• one parcel for $551/acre; RLD Exploration LLC; 7.90 acres, a little sliver of land; section 12-139-97
• most other tracts around $14/acre 

Williams

• 40 parcels, more or less
• many/most parcels below $40/acre
• Kraken Oil & Gas was willing to pay "top dollar" for parcels in Williams County
• a 4-acre parcel for $809/acre; Lynx Oil Co
• an 8-acre parcel for $621/acre; Lynx Oil Co
• a 20-acre parcel for $407/acre; Kraken Oil & Gas II, LLC
• a 75.28-acre parcel for $302/acre; Kraken Oil & Gas II, LLC