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Wildcat producer sparks oil boom on Montana plains

April 6, 2006 /

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Bear Paw Development Corporation is a private non-profit organization created for the purpose of administering programs to help improve regional economic conditions in Hill, Blaine, Liberty, Chouteau and Phillips Counties and the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy's Indian Reservations.

In the mid-1990s, major oil-exploration companies like Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Gulf Oil Co. and Texaco Co. were shutting down operations here on the remote high plains, abandoning hundreds of nonproducing wells and letting their leases to mineral rights lapse.

Federal and state agencies tracking exploration also considered the region a bust. "I thought my job was going to be turning out the lights," says Jim Halvorson, geologist for Montana’s Board of Oil and Gas Conservation. In 2000, his office predicted oil production would rapidly decline toward zero.

But Richard L. Findley, a graying geologist and "wildcat" producer, thought they were all wrong. He bought up leases on the cheap and helped spark a surprising boom in one of the most heavily explored oil regions in the country.

By John J. Fialka, The Wall Street Journal

Full Story: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06095/679602-28.stm

(Thanks to Bill Sellers for bringing this to our attention. Russ)

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State Oil & Gas Lease Sales Producing Record Revenues for the State School Trust Fund

Government/Politics The Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) recently held its quarterly auction of oil and gas leases, generating $6.28 million in rental and bonus payments to the school trust beneficiaries. This represents one of the largest dollar amounts generated by oil and gas development on state trust land.

The average bid from the recent lease sale was $61.61 per acre, an all-time record, according to Monte Mason, DNRC Mineral Management Bureau Chief. "The level of oil and gas exploration and production has increased significantly over the last two years, particularly in eastern Montana. The increase in activity translates directly to the increased bidding for leases on state trust lands in these areas. We averaged over $2.5 million per sale in 2005, but last week’s sale surprised even us. There was considerable interest in school trust tracts in Daniels County, which alone generated $5.39 million at an average bid of $100.31 per acre," Mason stated.

Full Story: http://www.bigskybusiness.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1232&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0