Sale of University Oil and Gas Leases Totals $39 Million

MIDLAND – The latest lease sale of University Lands has netted slightly more than $39 million for public higher education from the Permanent University Fund (PUF).

 The $39,062,817.88 was garnered from the 125th sealed bid lease sale on March 19, 2014.  The latest lease sale follows several previous sales in which record amounts, reflecting the renewed drilling activity on state lands, were made for the PUF, the public endowment at The University of Texas System and the Texas A&M University System.

“This is truly a dynamic period of drilling activity, around the entire state, and on University lands,” said UT System Regent Ernest Aliseda, who serves on the Board for Lease of University Lands. “The revenues derived from the land leases will be of great assistance to both the University of Texas and the Texas A&M systems,” he said.

With the current lease results in the latest offering, the total amount of University Lands under lease is 1,553,515 acres of West Texas land.  The sale includes 21,953 acres in Andrews, Crane, Loving, Martin, Pecos, Reagan, Schleicher, Upton, Ward and Winkler Counties.  Sealed bids were received on 76 of the 82 tracts that were offered for lease.

Elk River Resources, LLC had the highest single bid on Tract 17, a 647.2 acre tract in Andrews County.  The bid of $6,009.75 per acre totaled $3,889,510.20.  Double Eagle Andrews, LLC had the highest per acre bid on Tract 19, also in Andrews County. The bid of $6,503.00 per acre totaled $2,041,942.00.

 Information about this and previous lease sales is available at: http://www.utlands.utsystem.edu.

About The University of Texas System

Educating students, providing care for patients, conducting groundbreaking research and serving the needs of Texans and the nation for more than 130 years, The University of Texas System is one of the largest public university systems in the United States, with nine academic universities, six health institutions and a fall 2012 enrollment of roughly 216,000. The UT System confers more than one-third of the state’s undergraduate degrees, educates two-thirds of the state’s health care professionals annually and accounts for almost 70 percent of all research funds awarded to public universities in Texas. The UT System has an annual operating budget of $13.9 billion (FY 2013) including $3.1 billion in sponsored programs funded by federal, state, local and private sources. With more than 87,000 employees, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.