Over $1.5 million has been raised by the first public offering this year of Saskatchewan's Crown petroleum and natural gas rights.

The public offering saw 38 leases purchased totalling 5,595.875 hectares for $1,557,482. The Swift Current area had the most leases with 14, totalling 2,106.288 hectares that were sold for $914,349.

Paul Mahnic, executive director of lands and mineral tenure branch at the Ministry of Energy and Resources, explained what a public offering is.

"In Saskatchewan every two months we make available Crown lands for posting," he said. "Industry nominates parcels that are undisposed, or there is no current lease or expiration on the license or other dispositions, and we will post them up for a competitive auction. The highest bidder gets the disposition, and they have the right to explore, develop, or produce. It's just a way of managing development for our oil and gas activities in the province."

Mahnic said that the $1.5 million that was raised goes towards helping services for the province.

"That would go to a general revenue fund," he said. "That's available for all the services in the province like education, social services, health, highways, etc. So it's used for all the different services provided by the government."

To go along with Swift Current's 14 leases and over $900,000 the Estevan area sold 11 leases for just over $245,000, the Kindersley area sold four leases for just shy of $205,000 and the Lloydminster area sold nine leases for close to $193,000.

Potts Petroleum was the top purchasers as they acquired four lease parcels totalling 906.201 hectares for over $114,000. Top price paid for a lease in this offering was $221,000, paid by Millennium Land Ltd, for a 129.360-hectare parcel situated 18 kilometres south of Gul Lake. 

Mahnic said that seeing Swift Current get close to $1 million in money raised is very encouraging.

"Just given the recent activity it's pretty good," he said. 'It's actually quite encouraging to see the bump up for the Swift Current area the recent quiet time. In recent experiences, this is actually quite positive for the Swift Current area."

He added that this public offering shows that Saskatchewan has a very attractive operating environment and fiscal.