B.C. kicked off its land sale schedule for 2014 this week with its January auction, which attracted a modest $7.36 million in revenue.
With most of the prospective acreage in the province closely held, the trend of muted sales is expected to continue for 2014.
The provincial government sold 12,584 hectares in northeast B.C. this week at an average of $585.03 per hectare. The January sale of 2013 generated $9.87 million for the financial coffers on 11,786 hectares at an average price of $837.36.
“I don’t foresee B.C. land sales picking up in 2014, as available lands on the Horn River, Montney and Liard Basin plays are tightly held,” said Brad Hayes, president of Petrel Robertson Consulting Ltd. “Companies are unlikely to let significant acreage lapse while waiting for LNG projects to provide better gas markets.
“We may continue to see isolated large bids as the boundaries of the Montney fairway are expanded, or as specific prospects are developed in other conventional or tight plays, but nothing on the order of the big Horn River and Montney fairway sales in the 2007-2012 period.”
The January 2014 sale offered 30 parcels in northeast B.C. covering 23,172 hectares. Twenty-one parcels were sold.
Highlights included a drilling licence in the Green Creek/Jedney area, about 160 kilometres north of Hudson’s Hope, that was acquired by Stomp Energy Ltd. It attracted a land sale bonus high bid of $2.64 million at average price of $1,355 per hectare.
Five leases in the Laprise Creek/Nig Creek North area, about 130 kilometres northwest of Fort St. John, collectively earned more than $1.8 million.
The next sale, scheduled for February 26, will offer 17 parcels covering 8,955 hectares.
