The latest lease sale by the Texas General Land office raised$9.2 million Tuesday, down considerably from previous sales of thisspring. The highest bids for tracts were in the bays along thecoast, with the highest single bid from Sabco Oil & Gas Corp.of more than $1.11 million for 320 acres in Corpus Christi Bay. Thesecond highest bidder was Petsec Energy Inc., totaling $275,572 foran 1,135-acre High Island tract off Jefferson County in the Gulf ofMexico. The third highest bidder was Seneca Resources Corp. for a320-acre gulf tract off Brazoria County. The Seneca bid was$236,309.

Seneca also was the most active bidder with high bids on eightgulf tracts for a total of $1.18 million; followed by SeagullEnergy E&P Inc., which spent nearly $1.18 million for 11 SanAntonio Bay tracts; and Ranger Oil Co., which spent more than $1.15million for 10 tracts, five in West Bay in Galveston and Brazoriacounties and five off North Padre Island in the gulf.

“This was a modest sale, and to be expected after months of $14to $15 per barrel oil,” said Spencer Reid, Land Office generalcounsel. “Still, it’s a good sale and we’re very appreciative ofthe bids that we received.” This sale is in contrast to Fiscal Year1997-98, which ended Aug. 31. “We had two outstanding sales infiscal 1997-98 – the best in several years,” said Texas LandCommissioner Gary Mauro. Energy companies put up $34.7 million inhigh bid bonus money in the April 1998 lease sale, which was thebiggest since 1976 and the seventh highest sale in the history ofthe sales. The October 1997 lease sale brought in $23.6 million inhigh bid bonuses, and the two sales together were the best sincethe 1980s when the price of oil and gas was much higher.

©Copyright 1998 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press,Inc.