Activity in the oil and gas sector began slowly in the first two quarters of the year, but a strong recovery occurred in the last two quarters with Weyburn remaining steady.

Land lease sales for the last three sales of the year posted record sales figures leading to record sales total for the year.

"It ended up being in the top 10 of all time it's been a significant year," said Ed Dancsok, director of Geology and Petroleum Lands Branch for Saskatchewan Industry and Resources.

Revenue from the land lease sales for the year totaled $102.9 million, much of it coming from sales in October and August.

October sales totaled $35.5 million while August sales generated $26.2 million, for a total of $61.7 million. The sales from those two sales account for almost 60 per cent of the total sales for the year.

In the Weyburn-Estevan area, $10.5 million was generated from land lease sales, just over 10 per cent of total provincial sales.

The strongest sales for the Weyburn-Estevan area came in October with a total of $3.2 million in sales.

Many of the provincial land lease sales and exploration licenses were sold in areas with natural gas.

A large natural gas find in the Shackleton area sparked significant interest in gas exploration, resulting in fewer dollars being spent in for oil exploration.

The Weyburn-Estevan area has no known major gas deposits, but the sales in the Weyburn area have remained constant over the past few years.

In 2001 land lease sales totaled $11 million, for 2000 sales were $10.6 million, and 1999 $13.2 million was brought in from the Weyburn-Estevan area.

Dancsok went on to say that while a significant amount of money was spent to acquire gas, figures for the southeast do not appear to be dropping.

Industry and Resources believes interest in the oil sector could increase in the upcoming year, especially in light of current oil prices.

International factors could cause the price of oil to continue to rise and prompt more exploration in the southeast oil fields. There is some concern in the oil and gas sector of the province that the ratification of the Kyoto Accord could have some negative effects on the industry.

But Eldon Lautermilch, minister of Industry and Resources, is confident government action taken in 2002 will lead to more industry growth in the upcoming year. "It's been evident in the activity in drilling, it's been evidenced in the activity in land sales and I think it's good news," said Lautermilch.

The government's changes to the royalty and tax structure have been one of the factors leading to the increased land lease sales the province has seen this year, said Lautermilch.