Oil company close to finalizing 3,000 leases in Carlsbad

Santo Petroleum got approval from city councilors in 2017 to go door to door and offer residents five-year leases.

The Carlsbad Current-Argus reports the company has obtained about 3,000 leases in the last year, covering the majority of the planned leasing area.

Santo President Hanson Yates says owners were offered a signing bonus up front and a percentage of the subsequent revenue, should the wells prove productive.

Yates says Santo hasn't published a timeline for development due to the complexity of readying such a large number of leases and tracts to drill.

The two biggest leases were with the City of Carlsbad and Carlsbad Municipal Schools.

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Information from: Carlsbad Current-Argus, http://www.currentargus.com/

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