Shreveport draws $4.2M for mineral leases

DeSoto awaiting results.

From Staff Reports

Shreveport officials have just learned the city drew almost $4.2 million in lease bonus payments during today’s state mineral rights auction.

Cypress Drilling bid $8,700 each for 478 acres. That's more than twice the $4,000 bonus rate the city sought. The city had 740 acres out to bid. Shreveport also got a 25 percent royalty rate for any minerals extracted.

The city expects to receive Cypress to cut a $4.2 million check within a week.

Beyond the bonus payment, Cypress agreed to pay more than $2 million per year if they don’t drill on the property in the next three years – an incentive to find natural gas. That would come out to an extra $6 million if nothing is extracted.

DeSoto Parish police jurors also hope to reap another bonus from the Haynesville Shale leases. Property in and around the Mundy Landfill on U.S. Highway 84 east of Mansfield, estimated at 147.05 acres, is up for bid.

The Police Jury set a $7,500 an acre minimum and 25 percent royalty. That could mean more than $1.1 million for the parish bank account.

The city of Mansfield had 5 acres on the bid list, but that property was removed. No minimum per acre was requested. But the minimum royalty was set at 25 percent.

The sale also could pump more revenue into the state’s coffers. Assorted state-owned land in Caddo, Bossier, Bienville, DeSoto and Red River parishes are being offered for lease.

And the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is seeking leasing interest in three tracts it owns in the Bayou Pierre Wildlife Management Area in east DeSoto Parish.