AP 5-7,2015
Low prices for oil and natural gas have dampened the enthusiasm of petroleum companies to lease public land in Wyoming for oil and gas drilling.
A recent federal oil and gas lease sale in Cheyenne netted the least amount of revenue of any sale since the aftermath of the Great Recession in 2009.
Tuesday’s U.S. Bureau of Land Management auction of the right to drill on BLM land brought in just $688,000. The last time a BLM lease sale in Wyoming brought in that little was in August, 2009.
Lease sales in recent years have netted millions and sometimes tens of millions. The federal government splits the revenue with Wyoming.
A BLM lease sale in February brought in $8.5 million and one in 2013 almost $34 million.