January 14, 2010

Caddo Commission gets $795,330 in monthly lease sale

By Vickie Welborn
vwelborn@gannett.com

The Caddo Commission is the only local governing agency in north Louisiana to receive a bonus payment during the state's monthly lease sale Wednesday.

The commission had 88.4 acres up for lease and received $795,330 — or $9,000 an acre — from Questar Exploration and Production. Royalty was set at 25 percent.

Statewide, the Louisiana Mineral Board collected more than $4 million in bonuses, bringing to $38.9 million the total collected for the fiscal year that began July 1.

The board sold leases in 12 parishes — Bienville, Caddo, Cameron, DeSoto, East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lafourche, Plaquemines, Sabine, St. Mary and Vermillion.

Of the 31 leases sold, the majority are in south Louisiana, with 26 leases in southern parishes and five in north Louisiana.

The north Louisiana leases are in the Haynesville Shale region, where lease prices remain strong. The bids were highest on state-owned land in DeSoto, where tracts garnered $12,614 an acre.

In Sabine, leases dropped to $5,000 an acre. And in Bienville Parish, it was $7,029 an acre.

The state's next lease sale is scheduled for Feb. 10.

http://sonlite.dnr.state.la.us/sundown/cart_prod/cart_min_leas_tract1