N.D. oil lease auction brings record $158 million

A quarterly state auction for oil drilling rights on North Dakota state land has reaped a record $158 million, most of which will go toward public school funding, figures released Thursday show. The two-day Land Department auction that ended Wednesday fetched an average $2,967 an acre for about 53,275 acres of land in a dozen counties in western North Dakota’s oil patch, agency records show.

By: By James MacPherson, The Associated Press , The Jamestown Sun