SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
SANTA FE, NM – Public Schools, the New Mexico Military Institute, and Water Reservoirs are the beneficiaries of the State Land Office’s October oil and gas lease sale, which netted more than $7.9 million.
State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn offered 23 tracts covering 6,877 acres of State Trust Lands in Chaves, Eddy, Lea, and Roosevelt counties.
The monthly lease sales, which are held on the third Tuesday of every month, are held online in sealed and open bidding formats. This month, 30 bidders from seven states bid on the offered tracts. Sealed bids generated $5,719,062 and open bids brought in $2,192,250.
Estacado Land Services, LLC, of Roswell, was the winning bidder in both sealed and open formats, paying $1,069,946 for a 314.69-acre tract and $1,095,100 for a 320-acre tract, all in Lea County.
“Business is booming in the Permian Basin and fortunately for public education State Trust Lands lie in the path of production,” said Commissioner Dunn. “So far this fiscal year we’ve earned nearly $60 million just from lease sales and public schools’ share is more than $43 million, which will pay more teachers, buy more books, and build more schools.”
Oil and gas lease sale earnings are paid into the Land Maintenance Fund, which covers the State Land Office’s operating expenses. The agency is self-funded and spends about five cents of every dollar it earns. The remaining revenue is distributed directly to the beneficiaries, with the
exception of public school monies which are paid into the state’s General Fund and distributed to each school district as appropriated by the Legislature.
Revenues earned by the respective lease sale beneficiaries are:
· Public Schools: $5,808,391
· The New Mexico Military Institute: $1,941,120
· Water Reservoirs: $161,801 (Income flows into the Irrigation Works Construction Fund and is appropriated by the Legislature to pay for dams, water rights acquisition, and for other purposes relating to the conservation of New Mexico’s water resources.)
