Oil and natural gas leases on a total of 20 public parcels in Mesa County and four other counties in Colorado brought in a nearly $1 million in the latest quarterly sale conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The BLM  offered  20 parcels totaling nearly 8,000 acres in Jackson, Mesa, Rio Blanco, Routt and Weld counties. Two parcels in Mesa County covered a total of more than 200 acres and brought in almost $4,000.

The BLM deferred leasing on three parcels totaling about 500 acres in the Colorado River Valley Field Office pending the completion of additional analysis.

In September, the BLM  announced it would offer leases on parcels totaling 224,341 acres. The agency subsequently pared the offering in response to requests from Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet as well as local elected officials and residents in the North Fork Valley over concerns about the potential affects of energy development on agriculture, tourism and wildlife habitat.

The sale raised $981,143, including rentals and fees. The highest per-acre price was $1,001 on a 320-acre parcel in Weld County sold to Bison Oil and Gas II.

Oil and gas leases are awarded for a term of 10 years and as long thereafter as there is production of oil and gas in paying quantities. The federal government receives a royalty of 12.5 percent of the value of production. The State of Colorado receives 49 percent of revenues from leases issued on public lands in Colorado.

For the 2017 fiscal year, oil and gas development on public lands managed by the BLM in Colorado contributed $5 billion to the economy.

Statewide, an estimated 25,219 jobs are tied to oil and gas development on BLM-managed public lands.