Saskatchewan’s December sale of petroleum and natural gas rights raised $10.9 million in revenue for the province at an average price of $685 per hectare, bringing the calendar year total for 2015 in land sale revenues to $56.5 million.
The sale results come in the wake of the Fraser Institute’s 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.
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.
The December sale saw the Lloydminster area receive the most bids with sales of $4.8 million. The Weyburn-Estevan area was next at $2.92 million, followed by the Kindersley-Kerrobert area at $2.91 million and the Swift Current area at $254,187.
The highest price paid for a single parcel was $2,550,082. Windfall Resources Ltd. acquired the 547-hectare lease southwest of Pierceland. The highest price on a per-hectare basis was $6,382.
Mammoth Land Services Ltd. submitted identical bids of $206,593 on two separate but adjacent 32.37-hectare leases east of Estevan.
