State Nets Record O&G Lease Sale Amidst
Talk of New Play

May 14th, 2010 • Filed Under
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Reported by Staff

The oil industry may be suffering in the headlines because of the Gulf Spill, but things are moving forward swimmingly in Wyoming, say officials.

To wit, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management auctioned off a record $32.3 million in federal oil and gas rights in Wyoming. In addition, there is considerable speculation that a major oil play could be coming in the eastern part of the state.

The quarterly lease sale that took place in Cheyenne this week shattered the previous record of $30 million set in April 2008 and was three times the total paid for all leases in Wyoming last year.

The highest bids came on leases in Converse, Goshen and Platte counties in the eastern and southeastern region of the state.  The strong bid response follows a surge in drilling applications for the state in recent months.

“Obviously the people that are bidding on these acreages have a lot of confidence in the area and think the play is going to be a really great oil play for the state,” Bruce Hinchey, president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, said this week.

The auction’s highest single big was $5.4 million for the rights to 1,724 acres in Converse County, northeast of Casper. That also set a record, surpassing the $4.5 million paid for a single lease in 1999, according to the BLM.

Maurice Brown, of Cheyenne, submitted the record-breaking bid, as well as the winning bid of $1.7 million for the rights to 560 acres in Converse County.

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