Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) has scheduled Aug. 8 to auction oil and gas leasehold rights on 218,000 acres of state forestland that are estimated to contain rich reserves of natural gas. Unlike previous oil and gas lease sales in which sealed paper bids were used, DCNR plans to conduct its first-ever online auction with the help of FreeMarkets Inc., based in Pittsburgh. Buyers may competitively bid on tracts anonymously in real time.

DCNR Secretary John C. Oliver also released a 48-page document summarizing the 4,900 comments the state had received on the leasing proposal during a seven-week comment period. DCNR made several modifications after receiving comments pertaining to its oil and gas lease sales, including reducing the size of the lease acreage from 500,000 acres to 218,000 acres and from 141 tracts to 75 tracts. The acreage is located in four counties. The state also expanded buffers for environmentally sensitive areas near the proposed leases, and will limit granting waivers for well spacing and buffer restrictions.

DCNR geologists have been monitoring drilling and leasing activities in New York’s successful Trenton-Black River play for several years, said Oliver. The Trenton-Black River formations, which run from New York to Kentucky, are located as deep as three miles beneath the surface under Pennsylvania forestlands. Since 1947, hundreds of gas wells have been drilled on state forestlands, and about 450 wells are producing today.

For more information on the forestland, go to the state’s web site at www.state.pa.us. For information on the lease sale, go to www.assetauctions.freemarkets.com.

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