With two sales left to go, the revenue generated from the sale of Crown petroleum and natural gas rights in the province has surpassed $51 million. This exceeds last year’s total of $50 million. The October sale, which closed last week, generated $19 million in revenue.

In the southeast, there were a total of 19 exploration licenses sold, which raised $17 million alone. The top purchaser in the region was Scott Land & Lease Ltd, who spent nearly $8 million for seven licenses. The top price for a single license, paid by Scott Land & Lease, was for a 5,827.5 hectare parcel roughly 30 kilometers south of Radville.

Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Dustin Duncan, whose riding includes the parcel south of Radville, said seeing numbers like this bode well for the industry, as the purchase of these rights is forward planning for the companies themselves.

“We always think about, in terms of land sales, these aren’t necessarily the investments we are going to see immediately today,” Duncan explained. “Companies have a number of years to drill these prospects out, so I think this bodes well for the next number of years.”

The parcels sold were across the province, including the Bakken, Torquay, Birdbear, Winnipegosis and Red River formations. The next public offering of petroleum and natural gas rights will be held on December 5th.