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VICTORIA – The
May 21, 2008 sale of oil and gas rights sets new records with $441 million in bonus
bids and higher average per-hectare prices than any previous sale. Yesterday’s
sale brings the fiscal year-to-date total
to more than $480 million and puts B.C. on track to smash the $1.2-billion
record set last fiscal,
Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Richard Neufeld announced today.
“B.C. is committed to competitiveness. In just one
sale, we’ve set several new records,” said Neufeld. “B.C.’s resource potential
isn’t just promising, it’s proven, and companies are getting remarkable results
here.”
The unprecedented average
price per hectare of $9,538 set by the May 21 sale shatters the record of
$2,915 per hectare set in December 2007. This month’s sale also set a
record-high average price for drilling licences of $10,990 per hectare,
shattering last month’s record of $3,638. Forty parcels covering 46,284
hectares were offered and sold.
“Our investments in
infrastructure and innovative royalty programs have contributed to this
success,” Neufeld added. “The escalating productivity and value of the oil and
gas sector signal a bright future for British Columbia.”
The key parcels in the sale
were three drilling licences located in the Stewart Creek area approximately 40
kilometres southwest of Fort St. John: one generated a bid of over $25,383 per hectare for a total of
over $140 million and two generated bids
of over $20,355 per hectare for
totals of over $102 million each. The
other key area for the sale was a group of five parcels within the Horn River
Basin located about 95 kilometres northeast of Fort Nelson, which generated
$52.1 million in tender bonus at an average price of about $3,275 per hectare.
One 4,964-hectare parcel in this group generated an average price of over
$5,000 per hectare for a tender bonus of $25,360,480.
The next sale is scheduled
for June 18, 2008 and will offer 99 parcels covering 61,482 hectares.
Complete results of the
sale and additional statistics are posted on the Ministry of Energy,
Mines and Petroleum
Resources website: www.em.gov.bc.ca/Subwebs/Landsale/results/default.htm
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contact: |
Public Affairs Officer Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources 250 952-0628 250 213-6934 (cell) |
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