NDTL nominations down6,869 acres nominated for Nov. ND Trust Lands oil and gas lease auction Mike Ellerd Petroleum News Bakken
Nominations for the North Dakota Department of Trust Lands Minerals Management Division’s November oil and gas lease auction were released by the division on Oct. 2, and the total of 6,869 nominated acres is down 87 percent from the August auction, 81 percent below the 11-year average for the November auction, and the second lowest acreage for a November Trust Lands lease auction over the last 11 years (see chart). In addition, much of the nominated acreage is outside of the traditional Bakken petroleum system core, which was also the case with the Trust Land August auction.
The 6,869.39 lease acres are in eight North Dakota counties (see chart): Billings (1,438.66), Divide (240), Golden Valley (1,344), McKenzie (319.73), Renville (518.97), Slope (2,288.03), Ward (240) and Williams (480). Those acres are divided among 74 tracts ranging in size from eight to 160 acres with an average 92.83 acres per tract.
As Petroleum News Bakken reported after the August lease auction, North Dakota State Land Commissioner Lance Gaebe said the Land Board has literally sold out most of the mineral lease acreage in the heart of the Bakken system.
That perspective was echoed by Mineral Management Division Director Drew Combs, who told Petroleum News Bakken that Trust Lands is running out of available Bakken acreage and that the focus is shifting to other areas of potential oil and gas development. “As more acreage with core Bakken potential is getting held by production, we’re moving into a different phase with attention now turning to other formations in other areas,” Combs said.
The Nov. 5 auction will be held in the House of Representatives chambers at the State Capital Building beginning at 9 a.m. Central Standard Time. The nominated acreages still have to go through the vetting process and some nominated acreages could be pulled before the final auction list is issued prior to the auction.
Nominators The November auction tracts were nominated by seven nominators. Royce Robins and Diamond Resources, both of Williston nominated the Billings County tracts, and Diamond Resources nominated all three Divide County and both McKenzie County tracts. Cody Exploration LLC of Bismarck and Empire Oil Company of Williston submitted the Golden Valley nominations, and Empire Oil along with Pacer Energy LLC of Gillette, Wyo., nominated the Slope County tracts. Petro-Sentinel LLC of Williston nominated all seven of the Renville County tracts. Two of the Ward County tracts were nominated by Petro-Sentinel and Wells Petroleum of Golden, Colo., nominated the third Ward County tract. Denver-based Drake Land Services nominated all four of the Williams County tracts.
The next Montana/Dakotas Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease auction is scheduled for Oct. 22 at BLM’s Montana office in Billings at 9 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time. That auction will offer BLM oil and gas leases in Montana and North Dakota as well as U.S. Forest Service leases in South Dakota. A total of 21,645.46 acres will be offered in 87 tracts, but most of it is Forest Service acreage in South Dakota.
The next Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Trust Land Management Division oil and gas auction is scheduled for Dec. 3 beginning at 9 a.m. Mountain Standard Time, and will be held in the Montana Department of Transportation auditorium in Helena. Nominations for that auction closed on Sept. 17, and 3,334.36 acres were nominated in 10 tracks. Those acres are in the following Montana counties: Dawson (640), Garfield (240), Golden Valley (640), Hill (160), Powder River (1,026.20) and Richland (628.16).
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