Bakken Shale Big Winner in First Biden Oil, Gas Lease Sales

Bakken shale producers in North Dakota were the most eager to spend big in the Biden administration’s first oil and gas lease sales on Thursday.

Producers paid up to $2.3 million for each of 15 parcels sold in Thursday’s lease sale for North Dakota. The highest bids for drilling rights there were for a 155-acre parcel sold for $12,301 per acre, and a 68-acre parcel sold for $34,003 per acre, or about $2.3 million.

In all, drilling rights to more than 128,500 acres of federal lands in seven states were auctioned by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management on ...