Alberta land tops C$3 billion

For the second time, the Alberta government has raked in more than C$3 billion in annual land sales revenue and now has its sights fixed on beating the 2006 record of C$3.4 billion.

At the three-quarter mark for 2011, the province has collected C$3.06 billion in winning bids, fueled by continuing interest in the Duvernay shale play.

The latest auction yielded C$298 million from the sale of 210,642 hectares (520,496 acres) at an average C$1,416 per hectare.

Ryan Money, an analyst with Macquarie Securities, said producers paid C$185 million to acquire 37,248 hectares of Duvernay land in a pocket of the Greater Pembina area.

He said a per-hectare average of C$5,276 for a 4,736-hectare license in northern Alberta points to interest in a carbonate play in an area where Penn West Petroleum and Pinecrest Energy have been active.

The peak per-hectare average of C$9,118 was submitted by broker Standard Land Co. in a successful bid of C$54.85 million in an area where Devon NEC and Birchill Exploration have wells licensed in what is also a Duvernay target.

—Gary Park