Now this is news.  Magnum Hunter will close tomorrow on a deal to sell 5,210 acres of leases in Tyler County.  Magnum says the leases are in “non-core undeveloped and unproven” parts of the county.  The sale should net Magnum $40.8 million dollars.  That’s $7,831.09 per acre, by our calculator.  For non-core, undeveloped, and unproven leases.  Oh, and the Chairman of the Board, Gary C. Evans, also pointed out that a large portion of the acreage had expirations on the horizon.  So Magnum sold leases that are expiring soon and in questionable parts of Tyler County for almost $8,000 an acre.

Just speculating, but the only company that could possibly drill on soon-to-expire leases in Tyler County is Antero Resources.  They have the rigs in place and the most infrastructure of anyone up there right now.  We could be wrong about that, of course.  JayBee, Statoil, EQT, and Noble are all working hard in that neck of the woods, too.

But that’s beside the point.  We’d like to point out that the sale was for almost $8,000 per acre for, shall we say, sub-prime leases.  West Virginians continue to sell themselves short regarding what they’ll take for lease bonuses.  Ask for more than you think you can get.  Always ask for more than you think you can get.  You might be pleasantly surprised at what happens.