The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) quarterly oil and natural gas lease sale in Utah went off without a hitch Tuesday, netting $1.07 million in bonus bids to develop acreage in the central and northeastern parts of the state.

The Interior Department agency said it sold 27 of the 37 parcels that were offered, totaling 34,648 acres of federal land overseen by BLM’s Filmore, Moab, Price and Vernal field offices. In addition to the bonus bids, the sale generated $51,984 in rental fees and $3,780 in administrative fees, for a total of $1.129 million in total revenues from the lease sale.

Douglas Chasel of Salt Lake City, UT, submitted the highest total bid per acre — $925 on parcel 72 containing 320 acres overseen by the Vernal field office — as well as the highest total bid per parcel — $296,000 on parcel 72.

Given Utah’s record for disputed leases sales, the leases offered in Tuesday’s auction “were heavily screened and went through a very long check list,” said BLM spokeswoman Megan Crandall. Only one protest was filed — by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership — and it was subsequently denied, she noted.

The Interior Department still is conducting its review of 77 parcels in Utah, which were auctioned last December and then subsequently withdrawn in February 2009, to determine whether they should be reoffered to producers for oil and natural gas development (see Daily GPI, June 12). It recommends that reinstatement of certain leases may be appropriate following the review.

Interior spokesman Frank Quimby said he did not know when the review would be complete.

In February Interior Secretary Ken Salazar cited the proximity of certain parcels to landscapes of national significance and the need to conduct additional environmental review when he withdrew producer leases in Utah (see Daily GPI, Feb. 5). His action overturned the results of a final oil and gas lease auction held last December.

The BLM said it will hold more than 40 onshore federal oil and gas lease sales nationwide this year. So far it has conducted 21 in which 1,930 parcels were offered covering more than 2.4 million acres in the West. The 1,021 that were sold generated $70.2 million, according to the agency.

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