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western North Dakota's oil-producing counties. State data show about one-third of the land is leased, one-third is leased and has producing oil wells and the remainder have yet to be leased.
• A quarterly state auction for oil drilling rights earlier this month fetched $18.8 mil

lion. McKenzie County drew the most interest and money, with 4,774 acres leased for $17.5 million.
• Linda Fisher, a Land Department leasing coordinator, said the average price paid per acre for drilling rights during that auction was the fourth-highest since the recent oil boom began about five years ago.
• Few acres remain in the hottest oil-producing spots: In Williams County, only 287 of the 92,000 state-owned acres aren't leased, and neighboring Divide County has only 272 of the 72,302 state-owned acres available.
• North Dakota has received revenue from the sale of rights even before the first successful well was drilled in 1951, Gaebe said. Leasing interest has fluctuated over

the years and was nearly nonexistent as little as a decade ago -- except to the most bullish of oil speculators.
• "Acres were leased for a dollar during the lull," Gaebe said of the bygone bidding era.
• "There has been a dramatic shift," Gaebe said. "There certainly has been newfound interest."
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