Revenue from Sask. land rights sales continue to fall

The amount of revenue the Saskatchewan government has brought in from the sale of land used for the right to explore for natural gas and petroleum continues to fall.

The most recent October public offering generated $17 million. So far in 2016, a total of $34 million dollars has been raised from sales of this kind.

However, that’s down $11 million from a year earlier, when $45.5 million had been raised year-to-date. In 2014, $179.6 million had been raised.

Each hectare is priced at $376, and the government said Saskatchewan has the highest average per hectare price among western Canadian public offerings. The Ministry of the Economy said this suggests there’s still sustained interest shown by the industry in these types of resources.

The next public offering of petroleum and natural gas rights will happen Dec. 6.