Exxon Mobil, which halted drilling on what it considers promising acreage in Lower Saxony in Germany in the face of local opposition in 2010, is still working to overcome fears that drilling would ruin neighborhoods.
The price Total paid, coming to roughly $15,000 an acre including the promised carries (or $12,000 an acre, discounting the present value of those future cash payments), seems reasonable considering that acreage in the liquids-rich Eagle Ford shale of south Texas changed hands last year at $25,000.
However, international prices are considered for wheat acreage as the model fit improves.
Thus, if a farmer who has a base acreage in corn of 100 acres decides to rotate another crop into that acreage one year, the Department of Agriculture considers the base acreage reduced and reduces its subsidy.
In an effort to win enough votes in the Senate to pass President Bush's proposal to drill in a national refuge in Alaska, the Interior Department is considering narrowing the acreage that would be open to oil and gas exploration.
An additional 100,000 square feet within the development acreage is being considered for retail, restaurant and entertainment concepts.
When groups 1 to 7 are considered, 82 per cent of the Nebraska acreage and 47 per cent of the Wyoming acreage have storage water rights under Warren Act contracts.
Mr. Parsons and Mr. Hale said there were other surprising examples of lost foam -- including divots several inches long that popped out of "acreage foam," which is applied robotically and had been considered to be free of shedding problems.
While this bias toward larger scale farmers might be seen as a liability for some research efforts, for this study it is considered an asset because larger scale farms operate a disproportionate amount of acreage.
