The December sale of petroleum and natural gas rights in Saskatchewan fell far short of setting a record, but results indicated a continuing faith in the province鈥檚 oil and gas sector.聽
The sale raised $10.9 million in revenue with an average price of $685 per acre. The sale brought the calendar year land sale revenue total to $56.5 million.聽
The sale results came in the wake of the Fraser Institute鈥檚 annual Global Petroleum Survey of petroleum executives, where once again, Saskatchewan ranked number one in Canada and among the top ten worldwide in the rankings of attractive jurisdictions for investment in petroleum exploration and development.聽
鈥淲hile land sale activity has been relatively subdued, we continue to rank as a top destination for investment dollars,鈥� said Bill Boyd, Saskatchewan鈥檚 Minister of the Economy. 鈥淲ith an operating environment rich in opportunity and friendly businesses, Saskatchewan is positioned for the world market to catch up to us, and not the other way around.鈥澛�
Saskatchewan rated highly in the 2015 survey relative to other jurisdictions in regards to policy, investment and regulatory climate, geopolitical risk, administrative certainty, labour regulations and employment agreements, environmental regulations, trade barriers, taxation regime and quality of its geological database.聽
The December sale saw the Lloydminster area receive the most bids with sales of $4.8 million, which is a deviation from the recent traditional interest that generally sees the southeast sector gain the most attention and sales. This time the Estevan-Weyburn region was second on the interest list with sales of $2.52 million, while Kindersley-Kerrobert on the province鈥檚 west-central area fetched $2.91 million, and the Swift Current area was next at $254,187.
The highest price paid for a single parcel was just over $2.55 million paid by Windfall Resources Ltd. for a 547 hectare lease southwest of Pierceland. The highest price on a per-hectare basis was $6, 382.聽
Mammoth Land Services Ltd. submitted identical bids of $206,593 on two separate but adjacent 32.37 hectare leases east of Estevan.聽
The next sale of Crown petroleum and natural gas rights will be held on Feb. 2, 2016. 聽
