Natural Gas and Oil Sale Nets 76 Million

Monday, May 24, 2010 03:57 AM

Victoria, B.C.- The May 2010 natural gas and petroleum sale resulted in over $76 million in bonus bids. This brings the calendar-year-to-date total to $204.9 million.

"This is very positive news and shows that British Columbia is leading the economic recovery in Canada," said Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Blair Lekstrom. "Investor confidence and a thriving natural gas and petroleum industry will ensure we continue to create jobs and stimulate economic opportunities especially in northeast B.C."

The May 19 sale offered 96 parcels in northeast B.C. covering 47,374 hectares, and sold 92 parcels covering 45,671 hectares. The average price per hectare for this sale is approximately $1,677.

The key parcels in the sale included:

- One drilling licence in the Blueberry West Field, 75 km north of Hudson's Hope, with a per-hectare bid of over $4,500 per hectare for a total of nearly $18 million.

- Five leases in the Blair Creek Field, 100 km north of Hudson's Hope, with per-hectare bids of $8,888 that totalled nearly $12.6 million.

Drilling licences provide the exclusive right to explore for natural gas by drilling wells. They are acquired by the successful bidder at the Crown sale, and primary terms are three, four or five years, depending on location.

Leases provide the exclusive right to produce natural gas and petroleum. They are acquired by the successful bidder at the Crown Sale, or selected from Permits and Drilling Licences. Primary terms are five or 10 years, depending on location.

The next sale, scheduled for June 23, 2010, will offer 117 parcels covering 140,012 hectares.

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Posted on Monday, May 24, 2010 03:57 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: acrider54 on May 24 2010 5:14 PM

Where is my share? Oh yeah HST.

Posted by: Eagleone on May 24 2010 5:15 PM

Its not like we will see a reduction of our taxes the more money government brings in from oil and gas lease sales... its all about raising revenue for a bureaucracy and nothing about sustainable long term development for those making the decisions.

IMO This is about funding things like huge pensions for government workers and special political projects more than it is about the needs of BC, or the interests in the long term for BC's economy. That's the only strategy that I can see at this point.

Posted by: Eagleone on May 24 2010 5:22 PM

Funny how so much land is available to foreign speculators that if given the chance will have little regard for the long term consequences of their revenue extraction and the environmental costs to make it happen... but if a BC born and raised citizen want to invest in a small plot of crown land for a sustainable enterprise, than the rules make it impossible for that to happen. It shows the governments priorities, and those priorities are not in the interests of the people, but rather in the corpocracy of the financial elite and government workers that benefit from their policy union in regards to revenue extraction. We the citizens are simply observers that may get some sort term jobs and contracts so that we can pay the taxes needed to subsidize these industries.

Posted by: Green on May 24 2010 7:20 PM

Good Points Eagleone, its almost like globalization is pitted against the real owners of the crown land. So much for Freetrade, maybe we should demand fairtrade for BC'ers!

Posted by: gamblor on May 24 2010 9:25 PM

Keep waiting for your free ride, let me know when it arrives. My guess is you'll be waiting a long time. You are correct that you are an observer. If you think you are missing out on a bonanza, consider that these millions are paid simply for the temporary right to explore for gas. Its all muskeg, not prime land. Now add up the costs for all the engineering, labour, testing, consulting, contracting and drilling. Then imagine if you drilled a dry hole. Now look at your bank account. You are an observer indeed, incapable of any participation unless you count yourself as one of the thousands of "local BC residents" who are employed in the gas industry. You too can have a nice pension - get off your couch and work for it like everybody else. You wanna know where your share is? Its on the end of a pipe wrench working 16 hour days. I bet you'd get run off a lease 5 minutes after showing up the first time you squealed "Where's my share?"!!!

Posted by: Runner46 on May 24 2010 9:55 PM

excellent retort...particularly about the "end of a pipe wrench working 16 hour days"
Good editorialization gamblor

Posted by: Eagleone on May 24 2010 10:58 PM

lol Thats a bit old school. Its not about how hard you work anymore and hasn't been for at least 30-years. If it was I'd have my share.... :)