NM oil and gas revenues on the rise.
Everybody loves a sale.
And by "everybody" we mean organizations like Yates Petroleum, the Upland Corporation and Rubicon Oil and Gas. Those companies and more are gobbling up oil and gas leases every month in New Mexico. But it's a seller's market, and the auctioneers-the New Mexico Bureau of Land Management and the New Mexico Land Office-are reaping the rewards.
According to lease sale records, both government offices have been increasing their fossil fuel windfalls lately. The state land office-which holds sales every month-recently announced that its March auction brought in upwards of $4.3 million, more than double the amount from its March 2005 sale.
"We've seen an increase [in lease revenue] since 2003," says Jami Bailey, director of the state land office's Oil, Gas and Minerals Division. "It was not particularly an increase by that one month. I think it's just [reflective of] the general health of the oil and gas industry."
Likewise, the New Mexico BLM-which represents New Mexico, Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma and holds lease auctions sales four times a year-leased more than 25,000 acres to the tune of $11.5 million in the Land of Enchantment alone during its January sale. No small change when you consider that the $11.58 million January auction brought in more than the January 2005 and January 2004 sales combined.
Bernadine Martinez, a BLM land law examiner in charge of putting together parcels for sale, says the amount of parcels being offered hasn't changed significantly, but the revenues generated from each parcel certainly has.
"It has definitely increased," she says. "We're not offering more parcels and we have our maximum acreage per parcel (2,560) so I guess with the gas prices going up the companies are just looking to develop more."
The boom is good news for New Mexico's public schools, universities, hospitals and public buildings, all of which are financed in part by the revenues reaped from oil and gas leases. It's not quite so good news, however, for environmental conservationists.
"They're leasing every square inch of land that they can and it's a fire sale for the oil and gas industry," says Stephen Capra, executive director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. "Obviously we need to drill for oil and gas-nobody likes paying the prices we're paying-but at the same time this sort of reckless giveaway of public land to the oil and gas industry is cause for enormous concern."
The next state land office sale is April 18 and the next BLM auction is the following day. BLM is offering 68 parcels covering more than 60,000 acres, including a 2,096-acre spread in Chaves County, an 800-acre parcel in Eddy County, even a 40-acre plot in Union County.
All of that-and more-can be yours, if the price is right.
