The latest oil and gas lease aucton shows that the excitement over the Niobrara Shale has yet to subside. In fact, from May until now, the three BLM-sponsored lease sales  have generated a shade above $100 million.

All three sales smashed the previous record, dating to the 1980s, of about $8 million, according to Harold Kemp, assistant director of the Office of State Lands and Investments. Wyoming’s share of the monies has been an unexpected boon to its general fund, with $30 million going to the state’s general fund, with most of that to benefit schools.

The big dollars flowing from the lease sales is akin to hitting the lottery because it is “very unexpected money,” said state economist Jim Robinson.

 The one thing that may slow the momentum is that while interest in tapping the Niobrara Shale oil remains high, but there’s not much state land left to lease in the hottest areas.

The latest sale included fewer parcels in southeast Wyoming, which has been the epicenter of the land rush. “My sense is that folks have gotten everything they can at least from state government,” Kemp told reporters on Friday.

The highest bid went to Maurice Brown, of Cheyenne, who will pay $5,900 per acre for the right to drill on a section of state land in Converse County. The previous record, $3,200, was set at the May auction.

Much of the excitement stems from speculation that horizontal drilling and a handful of other relatively new techniques could make a play out of the Niobrara Shale underlying eastern Wyoming, northern Colorado and western Nebraska. The industry hopes the region plays out like the Bakken Shale in North Dakota, a state that has weathered the economic downturn largely because of oil.