Mineral leases surge in Northeast La.

Northeast Louisiana’s East Carroll Parish—an area that has struggled for decades with high poverty rates and has had difficulty attracting new business and industry—is seeing a surge of land leasing for mineral rights, says Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Angelle. More than 6,000 acres of state-owned land was leased in the parish in October by companies interested in the oil and natural gas potential of the “Brown Dense” shale, also called “Lower Smackover,” which spans portions of north Louisiana and southern Arkansas. The leases have netted $1.8 million in bonuses. Two bidders were competing for the leasing rights, and the per-acre price of more than $300 was on level with some of the stronger lease bonus offers elsewhere in the state, except for the Haynesville Shale area of northwest Louisiana. Recently, private interests have nominated an additional 3,000-plus acres of state-owned water bottoms centering on the southwest quarter of East Carroll Parish for bid in the December state mineral lease sale. The East Carroll Parish Clerk of Court reports private mineral lease transfers have accelerated to unprecedented rates in the parish in recent years. “A lot of work remains in permitting, testing and drilling before anyone can estimate how successful this play will be or how much will be invested there,” Angelle says. East Carroll Parish has hosted relatively little energy exploration in its history, with only about 125 wells ever drilled for oil or natural gas. Louisiana Office of Conservation records show that the last 30-plus wells drilled there since 1981 were all dry holes.