The federal Bureau of Land Management auctioned Utah oil and gas leases Tuesday that sold for $3.4 million.
The auction covered 35 parcels with a total of 44,000 acres in Carbon, Emery and Uintah counties, the Salt Lake City Tribune said.
Many leases sold for less than $10 an acre, the paper said.
But two small parcels in oil-rich Uintah County were bought by Finley Resources, Inc., of Fort Worth, Texas for $10,000 and $12,000 an acre.
Another 183-acre parcel accounted for just over half of the money the Bureau of Land Management netted on Tuesday, the Tribune said.
Utah’s prior oil and gas auction in August for parcels in Tooele and Box Elder counties failed to attract any bidders.
In Tuesday’s auction, Pensar Petroleum of Denver acquired 17 parcels covering more than 28,000 acres in Carbon County.
“The state [of Utah] will get nearly half the auction’s revenue, including a $1.50-per-acre annual rental charge, which will be shared with the counties where the leases are located,” the Tribune said.
Last week, the BLM withdrew nearly 100,000 acres from the auction in the popular outdoor region around the San Rafael Swell.
“Utah state BLM Director Juan Palma agreed to re-evaluate these proposed lease parcels, triggering strong rebukes from Republican members of Utah’s congressional delegation who claimed the BLM is subservient to “environmental elites” at the expense of rural Utah communities. But Palma stood by his call on Tuesday,” the Tribune said.
Six parcels, all in Emery County, failed to attract the minimum $2 bid.
The next auction in Utah on May 20 will offer parcels in the state’s southern half.
