A December 14 sale of Crown land in western Canada drew C$544 million in bids, the largest such sale in the region's history. During the year, land prices averaged C$247 per acre, 95% higher than in 2004, reports Calgary-based investment firm FirstEnergy Capital Corp. Between 1994-2004, the average annual price ranged no higher than C$126 per acre. For all of the western Canadian provinces, land sales totaled C$2.85 billion, double the C$1.43 billion spent in 2004. The run-up was in price per acre, as the total amount of acres leased rose just 2%, from 11.3 million in 2004 to 11.5 million last year. "This shows that producers have changed their views on the value of future oil and gas production: land is simply an option on potential future production, and higher prices reflect increased estimates of future value," FirstEnergy's analysts report. Fetching the highest price last year was a half-section in Township 48-8W5, in Alberta's Pembina Field. White Fire Energy and Ironhorse Oil & Gas paid C$16,678 per acre for the 316-acre tract. Overall, Alberta accounted for the overwhelming majority of land sales, totaling a stunning C$2.15 billion in bonuses in 2005, a 95% gain from 2004. Within Alberta, competition was keen for oil-sands leases. Between January and June 2005, companies spent C$20.9 million on oil-sands leases, but after Total SA purchased Deer Creek Energy for C$1.67 billion, the floodgates opened. During the second half of the year, C$367 million was pledged for tracts in the bitumen play. The most expensive lease, in the vicinity of Imperial Oil's Kearl Lake project and Shell Canada's Jackpine II, went for C$11,511 per acre. First Energy notes that, during the mid-1990s, Canadian producers bought about 1,300 acres per well drilled. Today, producers buy 500 acres per well. Average land costs have risen sharply from C$83,200 in 1995-96 to C$123,500 in 2005. While robust, that increase is far less than the growth in commodity prices during the same time frame.
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