The price to access unexplored shale assets on the New Mexico side of the Permian Basin soared to $95,001 an acre in a federal government auction. (Bloomberg) — The price to access unexplored shale assets on the New Mexico side of the Permian Basin soared to $95,001 an acre in a federal government auction, a record high for North America’s biggest oil field. The state’s previous record was $40,001 an acre set in December, according to a statement yesterday by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Overall, the two-day auction saw bids on 142 parcels of land and raised $972 million, more than the whole of 2017 and double the 2008 record. Federal Abstract Co., a firm in Santa Fe that bids on behalf of anonymous investors, was listed as the record bidder, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The company, which paid $387.4 million in total […]