Office of Mineral Resources

Leasing Manual

How to Acquire a Mineral Lease on State and State Agency Lands and Water Bottoms in the State of Louisiana

At the regular board meeting generally held the same day bids are opened, the Office of Mineral Resources staff technically briefs the Board in executive session concerning the merit of the bids submitted and then the State Mineral & Energy Board reconvenes in open session for the lease sale (generally held the same day as the regular board meeting). The Office of Mineral Resources’s designee publicly announces the staff’s recommendations to the Board as to which bids should be accepted and which bids should be rejected, providing the reasons for rejection. If there are multiple bids on a state or state agency tract and the staff finds more than one bid acceptable, it may recommend to the Board to accept multiple, non-conflicting portion bids, award a mineral lease to the party who submitted the bid most advantageous to the state, and offer an option for a mineral lease to the other bidder(s). The State Mineral & Energy Board then announces its lease and option award decisions at the state mineral lease sale. Further, should the Board reject all bids on a state or state agency tract, it may, at its discretion, publicly offer for competitive bidding a lease upon all or any designated part of the land advertised, upon terms appearing most advantageous to the state. LSA-R.S. 30:127.