On file: A nearly 10-acre tract at 12191 Florida Blvd., on which sits an aging shopping center, has been sold for $1.5 million. According to land records filed with the East Baton Rouge Clerk of Court, the seller was Sharon Calloway Bettis and Glenda Calloway. The buyer was TSAI Property, a limited liability company based in East Baton Rouge Parish and represented by managing member Minh Thai. The buyer could not be reached as of this afternoon’s deadline for more information on the property and purchase. The property is located on Florida Boulevard, between North Sherwood Forest Boulevard and North Flannery Road.
Dipping below 1,000: Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. declined by 40 this week to 988 amid depressed oil prices. It was the first time the weekly count was below 1,000 since September 2009. Houston-based Baker Hughes says 760 rigs were seeking oil and 225 explored for natural gas. Three were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago, 1,831 rigs were active. Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas plummeted by 29 rigs, Oklahoma was down five, New Mexico by four and North Dakota dropped two. Colorado, Ohio and Wyoming declined by one each. Arkansas and Kansas each rose by one. Alaska, California, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Utah and West Virginia were all unchanged. The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.
Sold!: The Louisiana Mineral and Energy Board announced today that it sold three leases covering 201 acres of land at this month’s lease sale, which was held Wednesday in Baton Rouge. The board reports having collected $23,810 in bonus revenue for the state at the April lease sale, bringing the fiscal year-to-date collections to $10.3 million. The three lease sales approved were among four nominated tracts covering more than 2,000 acres. The leases were sold in Lafourche and Vermilion parishes. In fiscal year 2013-14, the board collected a total of $18.3 million in state revenue on the monthly lease sales.
