Fuelled by a potent mixture of diminishing reserves and rising commodity prices, the companies – who use land-buyers to cloak their identities – more than tripled the average price paid for land just six months ago to $10,990 per hectare.

The highest prices went to land in the Montney, a tight-sand – or unconventional – play that could contain as much as 100 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas according to some researchers.

One parcel of land about 40 kilometres southwest of Fort St. John fetched a stunning $25,383 per hectare, nearing the Canadian record for such a sale.

"Those were kind of take-your-breath-away kind of numbers," said John Crum, president of Apache Canada, which picked up three parcels of land in the Horn River basin, a more remote shale-gas play near the Northwest Territories border that also attracted significant attention in the auction.

Mr. Crum admitted to bidding – and losing – on land in the Montney.

"We got blown out of the water," he said. "When we bid, I told my guys I didn't think their recommended bid was going to win. But I thought [the winner] would be about twice what we bid. This was more like five times. These are big numbers."

In fact, their sheer size substantially winnows the list of companies likely to have picked up ground, said Andrew Boland, the head of research at Calgary investment dealer Peters & Co. Ltd.

EnCana Corp., Murphy Oil Corp. and ARC Energy Trust are all players in the area, as are Talisman Energy Inc. and Duvernay Oil Corp., both of which have been the focus of speculation that they would have been big bidders at that land sale. "But given the amount that went out the door who knows who it was," Mr. Boland said.

Other possibilities include BP and Shell Canada, he said.

Frank Terner, Shell Canada's land coordinator, said, "it would be awkward for me to answer" a question about his company's involvement.

"I know there are a number of industry players active in the area," he said. "There are sweet spots that industry pursues from time to time. ... It's a very high price that's being paid, but obviously someone sees value in the property that they're pursuing."

Mr. Boland estimates the Montney can economically produce gas with prices at $6-$7 per thousand cubic feet, or just over half current prices. It could potentially flow as much as 4 or 5-billion cubic feet of gas per day, more than 20 times its current rate, he said.

Perhaps equally exciting for B.C. is the prospect of even more record-breaking land sales.

"There's a lot of land in B.C. that still could be posted. So are there going to be more land sales like this to come? My guess is there will be," said Gregg Scott, the president of Scott Land and Lease, the top Crown land buyer in western Canada for almost two decades.

"Anything's possible when you get momentum and success."

Financial Post

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