A land play in New Mexico's Harding, Guadalupe, DeBaca, San Miguel and Quay counties has been gaining ground, says Mark Chase, a partner with Englewood, Colorado-based Premier Data Services. (For more information on this area, please see "New Mexico's Permian Basin" in this issue.) Presently, there are 255 active federal leases in the five-county area, which mainly covers the Tucumcari Basin. In its July 2003 lease sale, the Bureau of Land Management sold 32 parcels in those counties. The minimum bid was received on 17 out of the 32 parcels, and 17 parcels had noncompetitive presale offers. The tract that fetched the highest bid sold for $25 per acre. What's even more impressive is the amount of activity on state trust lands. Since March 2000, 463 parcels comprising 138,000 acres have been sold. Of those, 223 parcels were issued in the last three sales. Bidders took 64 tracts in the April 2003 sale, with a high bid of $36.45 per acre. In June 2003, 81 tracts were sold, with a high bid of $13.75 per acre. And, 78 tracts were sold in the July 2003 sale, with a high bid of $11.88 per acre. The bidders mainly consisted of small companies and individuals, with Artesia-based Yates Petroleum being the lone well-known exception. "The state parcels are being snapped up," notes Chase. According to the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, the Tucumcari is one of several Early to Middle Pennsylvanian basins in northeast and central New Mexico. These basins contain mature petroleum source rocks, and offer exploration potential at reasonable depths. Possible reservoirs include granite wash pinch-outs, reefs and anticlinal structures. The five counties host 706 wells, of which 523 were drilled to depths of less than 5,000 feet. Of the 706 penetrations, 471 are active wells, although the basin has never produced commercial volumes of oil and gas. A handful of intriguing accumulations has been identified, however. "There's definitely activity going on," says Chase.