News Release
MINERAL BOARD CONDUCTS MEETING AND CONSIDERS OIL RELIEF PROPOSALS
March 11, 1999
The State Mineral Board conducted a Lease Sale March 10, 1999 at 10:00 a.m. in the Mineral Board Hearing Room located in the State Land and Natural Resources Building in Baton Rouge. Below are the preliminary results of the Lease Sale and 1998-99 Fiscal Year totals.
|
CLASSIFICATION
|
NOMINATED
TRACTS
|
NOMINATED
ACREAGE
|
LEASES
AWARDED
|
NO.
OF ACRES
|
AMOUNT
OF CASH PAYMENTS
|
| State Offshore Leases | 6 | 10,764.300 | 0 | 0.000 | $0.00 |
| State Onshore Leases | 44 | 47,815.932 | 13 | 4,854.950 | 1,208,355.90 |
| State Dedicated Leases | 0 | 0.000 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.00 |
| State Agency Leases | 3 | 31.309 | 3 | 31.309 | 5,305.65 |
| TOTAL SALE | 53 | 58,611.541 | 16 | 4,886.259 | $1,213,661.55 |
| 1998-99 Fiscal Year | |||||
| State Offshore Leases | 175 | 19,835.464 | 51 | 19,835.464 | $8,349,083.95 |
| State Onshore Leases | 398 | 353,086.255 | 149 | 28,485.085 | 7,826,933.76 |
| State Dedicated Leases | 42 | 56,775.810 | 3 | 1,114.710 | 560,576.77 |
| State Agency Leases | 56 | 14,525.478 | 23 | 1,786.191 | 1,154,584.79 |
| TOTAL YEAR TO DATE | 671 | 678,400.603 | 226 | 51,221.450 | $17,891,179.27 |
The Mineral Board also adopted two recommendations from its February oil crisis forum and decided to continue reviewing a third proposal. First, the Board agreed to consider on a case-by-case basis, reducing development obligations by leaseholders while prices are low. Secondly, the Board said that under economic hardship conditions (and on a case-by-case basis) a procedure would be implemented to allow oil wells to be "shut-in" for a six month period at a nominal fee of $1 to $10 per acre.
The Board plans to study how a "single variable lease" might be established. To do this, a low fixed bonus and a fixed minimum royalty would be placed on the lease until payout. The leaseholder would put up less money in the early stages of the lease period.
The Louisiana Oil Crisis Forum report lists 45 proposals to aid the state's oil industry. According to Board Secretary Gus Rodemacher, most suggestions resulting from the forum are outside of the Board's power and would involve action by the Governor's Office, state legislature or other state agencies. He said the Mineral Board's report has been given to the Governor, Senate-President, and Speaker of the House.
In other Board matters, members Monica Surprenant of New Orleans and Hal Stiel of Franklin were re-elected as Chairman and Vice Chairman.
Editors: For more information, please contact DNR's Office of Mineral Resources, Rick Heck at 225-342-6122 or Sandra Bailey at 225-342-3093.