How much can I expect to lease mineral acres for? What is the record oil lease?
This is impossible to answer; there are too many factors to consider. I will try to remember to watch lease rates and post them, but it seems for the acres with least likelihood to produce, the acres may go for as little as $100/acre. In 2009, it was common to see $2000/acre, but in some places they actually went as high as $8000/acre (very, very unusual). You may want to search this discussion group for a better answer: the Bakken Shale discussion group. Here is one discussion on lease rates, back in April, 2008. Since then, rates have gone up considerably depending on location. But record leases were those recorded in the late-2009 North Dakota land lease sale (somewhere I read that at least one lease sold for $8,000/acre: I will try to find that lease, but regardless, the numbers are spectacular). In February, 2010, it was reported that 120 acres in a relatively mediocre (but potentially exciting) field was leased for $7,300/acre, working out to $4.7 million/640 acres (one section).
