{"id":10605,"date":"2026-09-27T22:05:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T22:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radio406.org\/?p=10605"},"modified":"2026-09-25T22:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T22:07:09","slug":"montana-land-board-approves-oil-and-gas-lease-sale-generating-2-1-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radio406.org\/?p=10605","title":{"rendered":"Montana Land Board Approves Oil and Gas Lease Sale Generating $2.1 Million"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\nHELENA, Mont. \u2014 The Montana State Board of Land Commissioners has approved an oil and gas lease sale expected to generate more than $2.1 million for state trust lands, with the proceeds benefiting public education.<\/p>\n<p>The sale included 12 tracts in Musselshell, Sheridan and Toole counties. A single tract in Sheridan County generated a $2.14 million high bid, according to the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Greg Gianforte said the sale reflects both Montana\u2019s role as an energy-producing state and the value of state trust lands as a funding source for schools.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMontana provides key energy resources to make our state and nation energy independent and secure,\u201d Gianforte said. \u201cThe funding generated by this sale represents a sustaining investment in Montana\u2019s public schools to ensure our kids have access to the best education possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation said advances in horizontal drilling have increased industry interest in areas that previously may not have been considered economical to develop.<\/p>\n<p>DNRC Director Amanda Kaster said those technological changes are contributing to higher lease-sale values and increased revenue for state trust beneficiaries.<\/p>\n<p>Oil and gas leases on state trust lands include an annual per-acre leasing fee and a one-time competitive bonus bid. If a leased tract is later developed and begins producing oil or natural gas, the state can also receive royalty revenue.<\/p>\n<p>DNRC Petroleum Engineer Zack Winfield said Bakken formation wells can now extend as far as four miles horizontally, opening new areas to possible development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAreas that were historically considered uneconomic for development are becoming very attractive to the industry,\u201d Winfield said.<\/p>\n<p>DNRC manages Montana\u2019s state trust lands to generate revenue for schools and other trust beneficiaries while also considering environmental impacts and the lands\u2019 long-term income-producing capacity.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>By: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/digitalnewsupdates.com\/\"><strong>DNU Newswire<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HELENA, Mont. \u2014 The Montana State Board of Land Commissioners has approved an oil and gas lease sale expected to generate more than $2.1 million for state trust lands, with the proceeds benefiting public education. The sale included 12 tracts in Musselshell, Sheridan and Toole counties. A single tract in ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,576],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-montana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio406.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio406.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio406.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio406.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio406.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10605"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radio406.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10608,"href":"https:\/\/radio406.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10605\/revisions\/10608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio406.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio406.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio406.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio406.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}