Comments on: The Truth on Unused Oil Leases

By: hamad

hamad — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:04:40 +0000

Do you want to work here in Saudi Arabia, many drilling projects could also be the fault of your office location and support services sent a letter and thank you

By: patsy fulsom

patsy fulsom — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:26:03 +0000

who wants to lease mineral rights with oil call 5803069520

By: The NOAA Climate Story

The NOAA Climate Story — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:51:25 +0000

[...] Thousands of unused oil leases exist, and aren’t being drilled for a really simple reason- it doesn’t make business sense to do so. This is true locally as well as nationally. The county of Santa Barbara is home to one of the [...]

By: McCain on energy - tells us to keep our tires inflated. - U.S. Politics Online: A Political Discussion Forum

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:23:03 +0000

[...] the claim is in regards to pumping, not exploring. Second, there is a simple explination for why: [...]

By: mark

mark — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:52:03 +0000

John Doe:
You say you are worried about the poor sap paying high gas prices. These days that includes almost everyone who works for a living. But I can not agree with you on your comments. If land is auctioned off and the buyers bid and get the land without knowing what it will produce. It stands to reason that large portions of that land will be unusable. If a farmer were given an opportunity to bid on property that may or may not be able to be farmed, then after winning the bid found that only 2% of that land was of use, would he use the land at all considering the set up costs? Especially if the overall amount that could be produced would not compensate those costs. But, if the land lacked only some particular fertility component that he hoped would soon be available he may hold out hope to make use in the future. Keep in mind, he has bid and paid for the lease. He is stuck with that for the 10 years, he can give the land back(??) but is still out the money.

By: john doe

john doe — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:00:59 +0000

This post does absolutely nothing to explain why so much land is leased for drilling rights yet goes undrilled, but opening new land to drilling rights leases would cause a reduction in retail fuel prices.

Do you even read what you are writing?:

“they may hold onto the lease for years until either higher oil prices or new technology makes it feasible to drill”

OK, so people who explore and drill for oil have enough loose capital to spend buccu bucks on pure speculation that oil prices might go higher.

Do you really believe that allowing these investors (whose stated goal is ever increasing profit and profit margin) to lock up even more public resources will actually help the wallet of the poor sap who hardly makes enough to fill his tank to get to work each week? The two desired outcomes are almost diametrically opposed. You say yorself that leaseholders have a history of “holding” leases and NOT drilling until prices go up. That begs the question: why not have a moritorium on new leases until the price of oil goes substantially higher and lease revenue can be increased? The amounts of new oil available from new US public land leases would hardly have the potential to lower retail prices even 1/4 of the past two years doubling in retail prices.

I’m really hoping for your sake that you are advocating this because you have some personal financial interest in oil exploration and production, otherwise you are just pitifully stupid.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:17:19 +0000

I believe all mineral rights are owned by the government except grandfathering

By: George

George — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:40:18 +0000

The information “Jane” mentions is already out there. The leases are auctioned- paid for in advance. The price varies, as is usual with an auction. The term of the leases is ten years, or less, and if there is no successful drilling within that period, the drilling rights revert to the government. A company would pay for the lease in the belief that somewhere in the leased properties, there would be a producing oil field. That is not certain, and the uncertainty adds to the cost of exploration, and reduces the value of the leases at auction.

By: wayne

wayne — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:27:31 +0000

Here is a list of the top 100 lease holders.

http://wid.ap.org/oilgas/lease_acres.html

.. and here is a nice easy to use interactive map showing leases and unused leases.

http://wid.ap.org/oilgas/oilgas.html

Mind you no one has leased land for oil drilling that they didn’t think would produce oil.. That’s absurd. I could buy into the thought that a few sites here or there but not 75% of existing leases.

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:58:04 +0000

So, release this information about where the leases are. We will take a look and form out own opinion. Why not be open with the information? What are the steps to acquiring a lease. Why would a company pay for the lease to begin with. Why don,t they release it if it is no good or does not contain a profitable reservoir? How much does a lease cost, anyway? These are questions that if answered could support the industries position on new leases.