The May 25 lease sale by the Bureau of Land Management New Mexico State Office net $78,844,369 for 37 parcels totaling 8,596.25 acres.
On offer were 45 parcels totaling 10,123 acres within Cheyenne County, Kansas, and Eddy, Lea, and Chaves counties, New Mexico, on public lands managed by the Roswell Field Office, Carlsbad Field Office, and Oklahoma Field Office, the BLM said in a May 25 release.
The lease sale included updated fiscal provisions authorized by Congress in the Inflation Reduction Act, which prohibits BLM from issuing an authorization for renewable energy development on public lands unless an oil and gas lease sale has been held within the previous 120 days and BLM has offered a certain minimum number of acres for lease within the previous year.
Minimum bids for all offered parcels of $10/acre, an increase from the $2/ acre minimum bid set in 1987; royalty rates of 16.67%, up from the previous minimum of 12.5%; and rental rates of $3/acre for the first 2 years, $5/acre for years 3-8, and $15/acre for years 9 and 10. Prior to the Inflation Reduction Act, rental rates were $1.50/acre for the first 5 years and $2/acre for each year thereafter.