Bids Fuel Speculation on Mich. Drilling Boom
Michigan's gas and oil industry entered a new era Tuesday with a record-setting auction that will be a windfall to the state's land trust fund and could signal a boom in drilling across the northern Lower Peninsula.
May 5, 2010
By Detroit Free Press
LANSING -- Michigan's gas and oil industry entered a new era Tuesday with a record-setting auction that will be a windfall to the state's land trust fund and could signal a boom in drilling across the northern Lower Peninsula.
The high-rolling bidders for leases to mineral rights on state-owned parcels stunned state officials and other bidders in what became -- within hours -- the most lucrative oil and gas rights sale in state history.
By early evening, lease sales had topped $178 million -- more than seven times the previous record. More than 90% of the proceeds go to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund, used to buy recreational and environmentally sensitive property all over the state. Continue Reading on Detroit Free Press website
