Red Lodge Clearinghouse

Utah lease auction draws few bids

Written by PAUL FOY, AP/Houston Chronicle
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
A federal auction of oil and gas drilling rights in Utah drew few bids and low revenue yesterday. Barely half of the 98 southern and eastern Utah parcels were sold, some for as little as $2 per acre. "Given the current economic conditions -- lower demand for oil products -- there's few if any of those parcels bought today that will be drilled this year," said David Terry, a land agent who was the sale's top bidder, buying rights for an energy company he declined to identify. The sale comes after two other Utah sales were foiled, the first by a college student who seized a bidder's paddle and drove up prices by buying 22,000 acres of land for $1.7 million -- money he had neither the means nor the intention of paying. The student called it an act of civil disobedience to protect Utah's redrock country. The U.S. attorney's office is considering criminal charges. A second auction was canceled by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who said they were too close to national parks. Set as favorite Bookmark Email This Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.
Last Updated ( Saturday, 28 March 2009 )