A framework for determining optimal petroleum leasing

Thesis/Dissertation · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:7106323

Robinson, D R

The techniques of auction theory and option theory are combined to allow valuation under both geologic and oil price uncertainty. The primary motivation for developing this framework is to understand the prevalence of leasing in transferring ownership of oil properties. Under a standard oil lease, the landowner sells an oil company the right to explore and develop a tract of land for a fixed period of time. If oil is found, a fraction of the revenues is reserved for the landowner. Compared to the outright sale of the minerals, leasing has the disadvantages of: (1) lowering total oil field value through alteration of investment incentives; (2) providing the seller with a more risk cash flow ; and (3) increasing legal and administrative costs. It is demonstrated here that in lease sales as compared to full mineral interest sales, the relative disadvantages are offset by more effective value transfer to the seller. For the base-case parameters, the optimal lease in a bonus auction gives the seller 28% more value than the sale of the full mineral interest. There is a loss in the leasing process from distortion of development timing incentives.

• Research Organization: Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 7106323
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020700* -- Petroleum-- Economics
Industrial
& Business Aspects
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290200 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Economics & Sociology
294002 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Petroleum
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
EVALUATION
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
LEASING
MINERAL RESOURCES
OPTIMIZATION
OWNERSHIP
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCES