News Release

August mineral lease sale brings approximately $7.3 million

The state Mineral Board on Wednesday conducted its monthly lease sale in the LaBelle Room of the LaSalle Office Building in Baton Rouge.

The board collected more than $7.3 million in bonuses in the sale, bringing the total collected for the financial year that began July 1 to more than $10.5 million.

In all, 31 leases covering more than 2,621 acres were awarded, out of 42 nominated tracts covering more than 9,500 acres, in the August sale.

The Board sold leases in 12 parishes – Allen, Caddo, Cameron, East Baton Rouge, DeSoto, Lafourche, Madison, Ouachita, Plaquemines, Red River, St. Charles and Terrebonne.  Of the 31 leases sold, 23 were in north Louisiana and the remaining eight were located in the southern part of the state.

Twenty of the 23 north Louisiana leases were sold in Caddo, DeSoto and Red River parishes, in the area of the Haynesville Shale natural gas formation. Of that 20, 16 were sold in Caddo Parish. Lease sale prices remain strong in that area, with the 20 Haynesville Shale area leases averaging more than $6,500 an acre.

The lease prices the Board has seen in the Haynesville Shale area in the first two months of this financial year – averaging nearly $4,800 an acre in July and more than $6,500 an acre in August – 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.

CLASSIFICATION	NOMINATED TRACTS	NOMINATED ACREAGE	LEASES AWARDED	NO. OF ACRES	AMOUNT OF CASH PAYMENTS
Lease Sale August 12, 2009
State Offshore Leases	4	2,964.810	1	33.242	$9,141.55
State Onshore Leases	14	5,390.290	8	1,003.890	$1,761,559.21
State Dedicated Leases	2	42.320	1	744.000	$260,400.00
State Agency Leases	22	1,180.301	21	840.701	$5,293.353.62
Total Sale	42	9,577.721	31	2,621.833	$7,324,454.38
NOTE: The totals for this sale do not reflect any options that may be exercised or revisions to acreage and cash amounts that may take place after this sale date which may cause these totals to change.
2009-2010 Fiscal Year
State Offshore Leases	25	40,470.370	6	3,626.592	$1,108,472.61
State Onshore Leases	35	17,355.286	23	2,421.366	$2,414,082.64
State Dedicated Leases	2	42.320	1	744.000	$260,400.00
State Agency Leases	28	1,482.476	26	1,137.876	$6,777,928.11
Total Year to Date	90	59,350.452	56	7,929.834	$10,560,883.36
NOTE: The Fiscal Year totals include this sale totals and also options exercised and revisions to acreage and cash amounts that may have taken place from the date of the last sale to this state lease sale.