Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on September 26, 2008 at 4:40

Hello, AnnaBelle. Is the Kisatchie land you reference publicly owned? As in the Kistchie National Forest? Is the bidding that you mention the tract auction that the Dept. of Natural Resources/Office of Conservation conducts monthly?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by AnnaBelle on September 26, 2008 at 4:55

Hello Skip Peel,

I really don't know exactly what it is. I just read on here that O&G companies were surveying out there & there was going to be some type of bidding on the land on 9.25.08. I'm sure it is the National Forest b/c they talked about the location being off the Louisville Rd. in Minden which our property joins. I didn't think National Forest land could be leased but maybe I'm wrong. Any info. you have would be great.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on September 26, 2008 at 5:03

Annabelle, as to the surveying, I suggest that you check out the Webster Parish Group page. If you do not find the answer there, repost your question on their board. The date, 9-25-08, does not match up with the state conducted auction which is held the second Wed. of each month. You can view the tracts included on the SonRis website and the results are usually posted there also by the next afternoon. The September auction was canceled due to the hurricanes and those tracts will be included in the October auction.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Wilmer Sparks on September 26, 2008 at 7:27

Kitsatchie is federal land and the leasing of federal land is handled by the Bureau of Land Management (a/k/a BLM). Federal acreage in Louisiana is handled by the BLM's Eastern States Office located in Springfield, Virginia. The most recent federal sale was on September 18, 2008. The normal lease date for acreage handled by the Eastern States office is usually the 3rd Thursday of the 3rd month of a quarter. National forests are leased all of the time by the BLM. The BLM normally places restrictions on the lease to protect certain sensative areas in the forest. While the BLM will sometimes allow a lease to be acquired through a sealed bid process just like the Louisiana State Mineral Board uses, the vast majority of the leases granted by the BLM are done through a competative bid process in which bidders actually bid for the leases just like what you see at an auction.

As a side note, the nomination of federal acreage is a drawn out process. A company sends the BLM what is known as an "Expression of Interest" which is basically a nomination. The BLM has a field office in Jackson, Ms. that must first do a tract assessment before the BLM will put a tract up for bid. It normally takes the Jackson field office about a year to do the tract assessment. So it is normally about a year and 3 months from the date that a company nominates federal acreage for lease before it goes up for bid. It is not a very quick time frame to lease federal acreage. The BLM has a website that you can navigate through to see what fedeeral acreage has been nominated but let me warn you that their site is not an easy one to get around in.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by AnnaBelle on September 26, 2008 at 7:37

Thanks so much for that info.

• ▶ Reply