oil drilling

Drilling rights auction brings in more than $4 million

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:36:29 +0000

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources auctioned off state-owned oil and natural gas drilling rights on more than 90,000 acres yesterday.

Here’s a recap of the auction results:

Total acres up for auction: 108,164.70
Total acres leased: 91,225.42
Total money raised: $4,118,848.60
Average bid per acre: $39.90

These auctions are typically held twice per year, in May and October.

The money raised from these biannual auctions has been steadily increasing since 2000, hitting peaks in 2008 and 2010.

In the first auction of 2008, the state leased all of the 149,000 available acres for more than $13 million. The last time the state had a 100 percent lease rate was in 1981.

The first auction in 2010 had a 99.6 percent lease rate and raised an unprecedented amount: more than $178 million.

The average bid per acre for that auction was $1,507, which far exceeds the average bids at any other auctions over the last 10 years, all of which have been under $100.

-Suzanne Jacobs, Michigan Radio Newsroom

"No Sale, No Fracking"

Steve Carmody — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:23:31 +0000

People opposed to a natural gas drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing protested outside a state office building in Lansing this morning.

The state is auctioning off oil and gas mineral rights leases for more 100 thousand acres of public land.

The protesters chanted as energy industry and state government officials entered the building where the auction of oil and gas mineral rights leases was taking place.

The protesters worry drillers will use horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract natural gas in Michigan, potentially contaminating drinking water and causing other environmental problems.

LuAnne Cozma is an anti-fracking activist. She says state regulations are geared to help the industry, not to protect the people of Michigan.

“The gas is drilled…the more gas flows…the more money flows into the (state government) coffers…and that is why we don’t trust the whole process," says Cozma.

The protesters are circulating petitions to put an Anti-fracking question on the November ballot.

Michigan DNR puts oil and gas drilling rights on the auction block

Rebecca Williams — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:55:00 +0000

Starting at 9am this morning, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources will hold an auction to lease state-owned drilling rights for oil and natural gas.

The state is offering drilling rights on more than 108,000 acres in 23 counties. These auctions are usually held twice a year. The minimum bid is $12 dollars an acre.

Mary Uptigrove is the acting manager of the DNR’s Minerals Management Section. She says acquiring drilling rights is the first step in exploring for oil and gas.

“The lease is just a proprietary right that’s administered by our department. It does not give them the right to actually start drilling a well. They have to seek other approvals from the Department of Environmental Quality for the drilling permit.”

The leases last five years, and the companies have the option to extend them.

Uptigrove says industry groups usually nominate parcels for the auction. The state gets 1/6 of the royalties of any oil or gas that comes out of the ground. That money is used to maintain state and local parks and to buy land.

Maryann Lesert lives near the Yankee Springs Recreation Area in Barry County.

She’s worried the auction will lead to drilling under the park land... especially a kind of drilling for natural gas called horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. (To learn more, check out this recent article by Michigan Radio's Lester Graham about the benefits and risks of fracking)

“It’s beautiful land, it has beautiful bodies of water and the environmental and water impact threats from fracking are of great concern.”

State poised to lease oil and gas rights for public lands

Steve Carmody — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:48:43 +0000

Protesters are expected Tuesday morning outside of a planned auction of oil and natural gas lease rights on public land.

Lease rights on more than 100 thousand acres of public land will be available in the auction in Lansing.

Mary Uptigrove is the acting manager of the Minerals Management Section of the Department of Natural Resources. She says much of the land on the auction list is there by the request of the drilling industry.

As fracking debate continues in Michigan, Obama weighs in

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Fri, 04 May 2012 21:12:20 +0000

Hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" has created no shortage of controversy recently. And as Michigan Radio's Rebecca Williams reported last week, debate over this controversial method of extracting oil and gas from deep inside shale deposits has made its way to the Michigan statehouse.

An angry, overflow crowd grills oil company execs about drilling in the Irish Hills

Steve Carmody — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:11:15 +0000

An overflow crowd filled a public meeting last night in Brooklyn, south of Jackson. Many in the crowd are worried about the environmental impact of a growing oil drilling operation in the Irish Hills.

"There is nothing they can do here to keep from having an accident...It's going to happen," proclaimed one of the people in the audience.

The crowd at the public meeting demanded answers from a panel of oil industry executives and state officials about drilling going on in the Irish Hills. The region is becoming one of the leading crude oil production centers in Michigan.

Tim Baker is a vice president with West Bay Exploration, the company doing much of the drilling. He admits they need to do a better job explaining how they are trying to drill safely.

“These people have a lot of good questions. This is a beautiful area. There’s a lot of beautiful lakes and streams here," Baker said after the meeting, "We wanted to communicate to them that we are trying to develop (the oil) the best way possible.”

Many Irish Hills residents are worried oil drilling may end up lowering their property values.