Higher than expected natural gas and petroleum rights sales in August pushed the provinces’ sale total for the year to $760 million.
The August 25th sale offered 81 parcels in northeast B.C. covering 34,349 hectares with 68 parcels getting sold. The average price per hectare was approximately $3,160.
This month’s sales were much higher than the $53 million raised in the rights and lease sales in July that also exceeded expectations.
Key parcels in the August sale included two drilling licenses in the Kiwigana River area, 70 kilometres northwest of Fort Nelson with bids of $5,780 and $9,859 per hectare for a total of more than $64 million. More than $27 million was raised from the sale of 22 leases in the Blueberry area located 80 kilometres northwest of Fort St. John with bids ranging between $2,566 and $5,137 per hectare.
Drilling licenses give the purchaser exclusive right to explore for natural gas, while leases provide purchasers the exclusive right to produce natural gas and petroleum.
The next sale is slated for September 22 and will include 71 parcels of land covering 35,197 hectares.