The April Crown land sale came in on April 11, and there’s really only one word to describe it: low.
Just $1.3 million was raised for the whole province. The results of the sale were announced on April 13. Sales are held every two months throughout the year. This is the first of the new fiscal year.
Three parcels north of Eatonia received bonus bids totalling $321,794.55 for 777 hectares; these parcels are prospective for oil and gas in the Viking Formation. The highest dollar per hectare was $2,009.23 for a 16.188 hectare parcel south of Stoughton.
In total one exploration license was posted, but not sold. As for leases, 43 were posted, and 40 were sold, for a total of 5,973 hectares. The price per hectare was just $230.
Southeast Saskatchewan had the most leases sold, at 20, for a total of 2,444 hectares. Those leases garnered $570,988 in bonus payments. The price per hectare came in at $234.
Aldon Oils of Weyburn was the top purchaser of acreage in this area spending $179,778 to acquire eight lease parcels.
The top price paid for a single lease in this area was $72,431, paid by Spartan Energy Corp. for a 64.750-hectare parcel situated within the Steelman Midale and Frobisher Beds Oil Pools, 10 kilometres northeast of Lampman.
The top purchaser of acreage in the province was Millenium Land Ltd., who spent $214,571.14 to acquire twp lease parcels.
The top price paid for a single lease was $215,488.00, paid by Vital Energy Inc. for a 1,036.000-hectare parcel situated within the Battrum Roseray Sand Oil Pool, 40 kilometres northwest of Swift Current.
The highest dollar per hectare in the offering was received from Scott Land & Lease Ltd., who paid $2,009.23/hectare for a 16.188 hectare parcel located within the Viewfield Frobisher Beds Oil Pool, 10 kilometres south of Stoughton.
“This public offering comes as the province’s drilling activity for the first quarter of 2017 is double what it was during the same period one year ago,” Energy and Resources Minister Dustin Duncan said in a press release. “Increased activity of this nature is a positive sign of economic growth, enabled by the advantages that make Saskatchewan one of the highest-ranked jurisdictions in the world for oil and gas investment.”
