Associated Press
SANTA FE — Climbing oil prices are raising interest in oil and gas leases on state trust land, state Land Commissioner Pat Lyons says.
The Land Office received more than $5.2 million from this month's oil and gas lease sale on trust land.
Such sales have brought in $49 million this year, with two months to go in the state's fiscal year, the Land Office reported Thursday. Lyons said the office is on track to break the record for lease sale earnings, set in fiscal year 1981.
Some 53 tracts of state land, covering 15,263 acres, were offered for lease this month, and all sold.
William A. Chalfant of Midland, Texas, offered the highest sealed bid — $688,147 for 320 acres near Hagerman in Chaves County. The highest oral bid came from Doug J. Schutz of Santa Fe, who paid $262,000 for 320 acres west of Tatum in Lea County.
A sale of so-called frontier acreage brought in nearly $143,000, which the Land Office said indicates an interest in exploratory oil and gas drilling in New Mexico. Frontier tracts are those outside known producing areas.
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