Land

While agreeing to defer nearly 10,000 acres, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finds itself as the target of strong opposition from local residents as it attempts to conduct an oil and natural gas lease sale in mid-February in central Colorado’s North Fork Valley.

A decision by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to set aside its original federal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) proposal has drawn plaudits from associations representing major oil and natural gas producers.

A decision by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to set aside its original federal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) proposal has drawn plaudits from associations representing major oil and natural gas producers.

The New Mexico State Land Office pulled in $2.39 million in proceeds Tuesday from its January oil and natural gas lease sale, which covered slightly more than 7,200 acres. Those numbers vary with the state’s December and November proceeds last year, which were $5.8 million and $3.85 million, respectively, for about 10,000 acres in each case (see Daily GPI, Nov. 28, 2012).

With the clock ticking on an end-of-year deadline, a regional unit of the national Trust for Public Land (TPL) said Friday it is short the full $8.75 million it needs to meet a commitment to Plains Exploration and Production Co. (PXP) to acquire and retire oil and natural gas leases in the Wyoming Range.

Legislators and state government officials in Ohio, as well as industry groups, are discussing a bill that, if enacted, would require oil and natural gas land agents to register with the state and provide homeowners with several disclosure forms.

A Utah field office for the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has begun seeking public comment on its environmental assessment (EA) of a proposal to offer 12 parcels totaling more than 14,000 acres for oil/natural gas leases in May 2013.

Colorado producers on Friday raised the ante in their concerns about a state agency’s efforts to establish new rules on setbacks for oil and natural gas drilling operators, gaining support from local business groups for a fact sheet citing the economic benefits that resource production brings to the state.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) White River field office in Colorado has extended to Jan. 28 the public comment deadline for a draft resource management plan (RMP) for parts of the Piceance Basin, which when finalized could result in thousands of new natural gas wells.