| Baton Rouge: At its monthly lease sale, the state Mineral Board collected more than $12.1 million in bonuses in the sale, bringing the total collected for the financial year that began July 1 to more than $22.7 million. The sale ranks as the fifth highest in the past five years.
In all, 29 leases covering more than 1,600 acres were awarded, out of 45 nominated tracts covering more than 17,500 acres, in the October sale.
The Board sold leases in 9 parishes – Bossier, Bienville, Caddo, DeSoto, Natchitoches, Red River, Plaquemines, St. Helena and Terrebonne. Of the 29 leases sold, 23 were in north Louisiana and the remaining 6 were located in the southern part of the state.
All of the 23 north Louisiana leases were sold in the area of the Haynesville Shale natural gas formation -- in Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, DeSoto, Natchitoches and Red River parishes. Lease sale prices remain strong in that area, with the 23 Haynesville Shale area leases averaging more than $8,300 an acre.
The lease prices the Board has seen in the Haynesville Shale area in sales this financial year – averaging nearly $4,800 an acre in July and more than $6,500 an acre in August, no leases in the Haynesville area in September – have been on the increase. The figures for that area are strong compared to previous years, though not what they were during the heat of the 2008 rush. For the parishes that have been the primary interest area for the Haynesville Shale, lease price sales averaged about $532 an acre in 2007, and about $252 an acre in 2006.
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