February Public Offering Brings 2018-19 Total Revenue to $57.5 Million
Saskatchewan’s February public offering of Crown petroleum and natural gas rights held on Tuesday, which saw attention focused on the Kindersley area, raised a total of $10.2 million for the province.
This was the sixth and final offering of the 2018-19 fiscal year, bringing the cumulative total to $57.5 million. The 2018-19 budget forecast in the spring projected $63.9 million in bonus bids for the fiscal year.
Saskatchewan’s final 2018-19 average price per hectare was $596 (up from $316 per hectare in 2017-18), compared to an average of $282 per hectare for similar offerings in Alberta—illustrating the premium being placed by the market on the rights to develop Saskatchewan’s oil and gas resources.
“Saskatchewan’s positive investment climate is based on our accessible resources as well as the priority we place on our stakeholders,” Energy and Resources Minister Bronwyn Eyre said. “We will continue to work closely with industry for ways to provide as much certainty as we can for investment.”
Two exploration licences in the Estevan area were purchased for a total of $906,166.54. One licence, located northeast of Estevan, was purchased by BASM Land & Resources Ltd. for $845,777.45. The other exploration licence, north of Gainsborough, was purchased by Burgess Creek Exploration Inc. for $60,389.09.
Five exploration licences located west of Kerrobert were purchased for $5,653,796.91. Two exploration licences, northeast of Major, were purchased for $2,172,009.17 by Rockwell Resources Inc. and are prospective for oil in the Mannville Group. One of these licences was purchased for $2,131,540.27 and was the highest bonus bid for a parcel in this public offering. Three exploration licences, southwest of Major, were purchased by Millennium Land Ltd. for $3,481,787.74 and are prospective for oil in the Viking Formation.
The highest bonus bid for a lease was $816,771.02 for 258.715 hectares. This parcel is located northeast of Marengo and was purchased by Millennium Land Ltd. Two parcels consisting of 64.750 hectares each generated the top dollars per hectare in this public offering; located northeast of Stoughton, they were purchased by Synergy Land Services Ltd. for $3,204.32 per hectare and are prospective for oil in the Bakken Formation.
The scheduled date for the first offering of the 2019-20 fiscal year will be April 9, 2019.