NEWS RELEASE

www.dnr.louisiana.gov

For Immediate Release

March 10, 2010

March mineral lease sale brings approximately $4.7 million

The state Mineral and Energy Board on Wednesday conducted its monthly lease sale in the LaBelle Room of the LaSalle Office Building in Baton Rouge.

The board collected more than $4.7 million in bonuses in the sale, bringing the total collected for the financial year that began July 1 to more than $49.9 million.

In Wednesday’s Mineral and Energy Board meeting, 15 leases covering more than 2,244 acres were awarded, out of 23 nominated tracts covering more than 18,752 acres, in the March sale.

The Board sold leases in eight parishes – Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Cameron, DeSoto, Ouachita, Pointe Coupee and Terrebonne.  Of the 15 leases sold, the majority were sold in north Louisiana, with nine leases sold in northern parishes and six in south Louisiana.

Of the nine north Louisiana leases sold, seven were in the area of the Haynesville Shale natural gas formation – in Bienville, Bossier, Caddo and DeSoto parishes. Lease sale prices remain strong in that area, with the 7 Haynesville Shale area leases averaging about $9,500 an acre. All but two of those leases went for better than $6,700 an acre.

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Editors: For more information, contact DNR Public Information Office at 225-342-0058.