Oil, gas lease auction to set acreage record

This week's federal oil and gas lease auction in Utah will offer 362,665 acres, well above the record-setting June sale.

Among the leases up for purchase Wednesday, about 19,338 acres on 223 parcels contain wilderness characteristics, according to the Bureau of Land Management. The Outdoor Industry Association, National Outdoor Leadership School and Trout Unlimited all filed protests of the upcoming lease sale.

The BLM did defer sales on 30 parcels of wilderness-quality land, including areas near Fisher Towers and White River.

Many leases being offered in Utah are in areas seldom explored in the past, including parts of Juab, Millard, Sanpete and Sevier counties.

"The underlying, driving force is clearly the economics of oil and gas, with oil prices hitting record highs and the gas demand outstripping our ability to produce," said Kent Hoffman, who directs the BLM's mineral programs in Utah.

Hoffman said the record amount of acreage involved in the auction is due in large part to the Forest Service playing catch-up with a backlog of its land nominated by oil and gas industry entities for exploration.