P&NG Sales FAQs
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Crown Petroleum and Natural Gas Rights
How do I post a parcel of land in the Public Sale?
How do I access ETS to post land?
How do I submit a posting request?
How do I find out if the land and rights I want to post are available?
How can I find out if there are any surface and/or mineral restrictions before I post the land?
How do I find out if land and rights that have recently expired will be available for posting?
Can I make changes to my posting request once it has been submitted?
What is the maximum number of sections of land I can post in a parcel?
What is the minimum amount of land I can post in a parcel?
What is the maximum number of parcels I can post in a sale?
What is the maximum number of parcels I can request in one submission?
What is the difference between a lease parcel and a licence parcel?
Can I add land to my posting request after I submit it to the department?
What is the deadline for withdrawing, deferring or changing the configuration of my posting request?
Can I change the sale date on my posting request?
Will someone from sales phone to confirm that the land and rights I have requested are going to be posted?
What does a well drilled to a sale mean?
What is an advance booking posting request?
How many sales are there in a year?
How can I get a copy of the sale notice (Public Offering Notice)?
B. ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER (EFT)
If I am not set up for electronic funds transfer (EFT), can I still bid at a land sale?
How do I register with the Department for electronic funds transfer (EFT)?
How long does it take to get set up as an electronic funds transfer (EFT) client?
How do I notify the Department if there is a change in my electronic funds transfer (EFT) account?
How long does it take to change an electronic funds transfer (EFT) account?
How does the electronic funds transfer (EFT) process work?
C. BIDDING AT PUBLIC SALES
What happens if I do not bid on a parcel of land I posted?
How do I submit a bid for the Public Sale?
How do I access ETS to bid?
What happens if I submit a bid using a paper bid form?
When does the bidding for a sale close?
Is it necessary to separate bid requests for leases and licences?
Who pays for the bid?
What is the minimum bid amount for a parcel (agreement)?
Who should I put as the designated representative?
Who should I put as the confidential rental payor for my bid?
When and where are the sales results available?
D. ELECTRONIC AGREEMENT DOCUMENTS
How do I acquire a copy of the agreement document?
How do I access ETS to pick up documents?
How do I know when the documents are ready?
Who will receive the notification email within the designated representative company?
A. POSTING REQUESTS
How do I post a parcel of land in the Public Sale?
You can post a parcel of land by submitting a request using the department’s secure Electronic Transfer System (ETS). ETS gives you access to a web-based posting system for petroleum and natural gas rights.How do I access ETS to post land?
If you do not have an ETS account, you will need to apply for an account so that you can do business electronically with the department. If you already have access to ETS, you will need to add the form type "Posting Requests" to your existing account. More information about ETS and how to set up an account or change your current account is available at: Learn more >>How do I submit a posting request?
You can submit a posting request by logging into ETS and choosing the "Posting Requests" folder. The Online Learning Module for postings is available on the department's website. The module will provide you with an explanation of the postings screens and includes Show Me Simulations, which are short videos demonstrating the functionality of particular aspects of the posting process. Learn more >>How do I find out if the land and rights I want to post are available?
To determine the availability of Crown petroleum and natural gas rights, you can use the Query by Map or Query by Land functions available through the Posting Requests folder on the Department’s Electronic Transfer System (ETS). The query functions will only provide the information you need to do a posting request. A full search can also be done electronically by subscribing to ETS. Information about ETS is available on the Department’s Web site at: Learn more >> To determine the availability of Crown petroleum and natural gas rights, you can also do a mineral search by contacting Crown Land Data Support in Edmonton at 780-422-5727 (call toll free in Alberta 310-0000), fax 780-422-9522 or email CrownLandDataSupport@gov.ab.ca How can I find out if there are any surface and/or mineral restrictions before I post the land? The Department maintains a database of information on major surface or environmental concerns that can lead to surface access restrictions including items such as ecological reserves, provincial parks, natural areas, key caribou habitat areas and integrated resource plan zones. Each restriction lists a contact person who can provide further information. These restrictions apply to land owned by the Crown. For privately owned or held land, you must contact the individual owner to negotiate access approval. To find out if there are any existing restrictions, you can use the Query by Map function available through the Posting Requests folder on the department’s Electronic Transfer System (ETS). A full search can also be done electronically by subscribing to ETS. Information about ETS is available on the department’s Web site at: Learn more >> To find out about existing restrictions, you can also contact Crown Land Data Support in Edmonton at 780-422-5727 (call toll free in Alberta 310-0000),fax 780-422-9522 or email CrownLandDataSupport@gov.ab.ca and indicate that you want the surface and/or mineral restrictions included in a search.
How do I find out if land and rights that have recently expired will be available for posting?
You cannot post the land and rights in an expired agreement. If the status of a parcel reads “Expired Agreement” in the response you receive from the department, this means that you have requested rights in a location with an active agreement that is past its expiry date. Your request for the rights still held by that agreement will be withdrawn. You must wait until the agreement is continued or cancelled before you can request the rights. An application has been developed to help you determine when rights are available for posting. In the Posting Requests folder on ETS, you would open the Expired Agreement Notification page and enter the number of the expired agreement. You will receive an email when a decision has been made to either continue or cancel the agreement. You would then do a search to determine the status of the agreement and rights on Land Status Automated System (LSAS).Can I make changes to my posting request once it has been submitted?
You must call the department to withdraw or make changes to your request. You will receive an email informing you that your request has been updated. It is your responsibility to logon to ETS and review your request. You do this by opening the work in progress screen under the Posting Request folder. The updated file for your posting request will reflect the changes that you requested. The department will also make changes to your request as it goes through the review process. It is your responsibility to monitor your postings requests and check the status of a request when you receive an email informing you of a change.What is the maximum number of sections of land I can post in a parcel?
The maximum number of sections of land you can post for a lease or licence parcel is 15 sections in the Plains area, 32 sections in the Northern area and 36 sections in the Foothills area. Crown lands to be included in each parcel must be laterally or diagonally contiguous except where freehold and entirely disposed Crown rights intervene. The requested lands must not be separated by more than one section.What is the minimum amount of land I can post in a parcel?
The minimum size for most lease parcels is the spacing unit for an oil well, except in the case where the Crown owns the petroleum and natural gas in only part of the spacing unit. A licence parcel in the Northern or Foothills area must contain at least one full section of land and in the Plains area you must post a minimum of six full sections of land. A partial section of land can be posted as part of a larger licence parcel as long as the balance of the section is already disposed to the zone being posted, is freehold or is already posted. Otherwise, the balance of the section must be added to your licence parcel.What is the maximum number of parcels I can post in a sale?
The department can limit a client’s posting requests to a maximum of 20 per cent of the total parcels in a sale. A member of the sales area will contact you if you need to change the number of parcels you have requested for a sale. You will then have the option of withdrawing, combining or moving some of the parcels to a different sale.What is the maximum number of parcels I can request in one submission?
The maximum number of parcels for each posting request is ten. Parcels requested must be of the same type (lease or licence) and fall within a 3x3 township and range grid.What is the difference between a lease parcel and a licence parcel?
The term of a lease is five years in all regions. The term of a licence is two years in the Plains region, four years in the Northern region and five years in the Foothills region. View the Alberta Regional Boundary Map. Learn more >> At the end of the lease term, you must prove the land productive for continuation. Before the end of the licence term, you must drill a well. The depth of the well determines how many sections of land will be continued for an intermediate term of five years. Licences can be grouped for the drilling of a single well and the lands earned can be shared between the licences at expiry. The intermediate term of a licence provides an additional period of time for you to prove the land productive for continuation.Can I add land to my posting request after I submit it to the department?
Land cannot be added to your posting request if the posting acceptance period for the sale is closed. As soon as the acceptance period for each sale is closed, all land requested for that sale is submitted to the Crown Mineral Disposition Review Committee (CMDRC). The CMDRC reviews the land for any surface restrictions. To add land to your posting request after the acceptance period is closed, you must withdraw your original posting request and re-post the land for the next available sale.What is the deadline for withdrawing, deferring or changing the configuration of my posting request?
You must notify the department of any changes to your posting request no later than the Wednesday, one week prior to the publication date of the sale requested. Please refer to the ETS Posting Request number and the land. If extensive changes are required, the sales area may not be able to accommodate your request due to time constraints. A change will be made only if it does not adversely affect the normal process for finalizing the Notice of Public Offering.Can I change the sale date on my posting request?
If the sale you requested is not already closed (each sale is closed one week prior to the sale’s publication date) or published, the Department can defer your posting request. There is the possibility that another requester could pre-empt you as the date you request a deferral will be the new received date of your posting request. Your posting cannot be deferred past the sale currently accepting posting requests. If this does not provide enough of a delay, you can either inform us (no later than one week prior to the publication date of the new sale date) to defer your posting request again or you can withdraw your posting request and re-submit it at a later date.Will someone from sales phone to confirm that the land and rights I have requested are going to be posted?
ETS will automatically send you an email when your posting request has been updated. It will be your responsibility to check the updated file to determine what rights in your request are available. A member of the sales area will not contact you by phone.What does a well drilled to a sale mean?
If a requester is drilling a well on adjacent land (within one mile of the requested land) to evaluate the rights being posted, their posting request will be given first priority if there is another request for the land in the same sale. Priority for all other posting requests is on the basis of the date and time of receipt of the request during the acceptance period.What is an advance booking posting request?
The Department accepts an advance booking posting request when the requester wishes to time the purchase of an agreement(s) to an evaluation well being drilled to a depth greater than 3,000 metres. Data must be provided to prove that all rights requested will be evaluated by the well being drilled. Initially, an advance booking is advertised by way of a Notice of Pending Public Offering. This notice is published on the date shown in the sale schedule for the acceptance period in which the request was received. Parcels published in a notice of pending public offering cannot be withdrawn and will be published again in the Notice of Public Offering eight weeks prior to the sale. The interval between publishing the notice of pending public offering and the sale date depends on the depth of the well. The advance booking time for a 3,000-metre well is 16 weeks. This may be extended by one-week periods for each additional 50 metres in depth. The advance booking will be published in the Notice of Public Offering eight weeks before the sale date.How many sales are there in a year?
On average, 24 sales are held each year at two-week intervals. The dates of the sales and the corresponding posting request acceptance period for each sale are published in an Information Letter two years in advance. The normal cycle for a posting request is 17 weeks including two weeks for posting request acceptance, seven weeks for internal processing and eight weeks from the publication of the Public Offering Notice to the sale.How can I get a copy of the sale notice (Public Offering Notice)?
A copy of the Public Offering Notice is available electronically by subscribing to the Department’s electronic mailing list. Subscription instructions are available on the Department’s Web site. Learn more>>
The Public Offering Notice is available on the Department website in three formats; txt, pdf and xml. Learn more >>
B. ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER (EFT)
If I am not set up for electronic funds transfer (EFT), can I still bid at a land sale?
EFT is mandatory when bidding at sales. Cheques are not accepted. When an EFT account is being changed and there is not enough time to change the information before the sale, you may need to use a land agent or partner to bid on your behalf. In the case of changes to your banking information, the old bank account should be left active until a member of the sales area has confirmed the necessary changes have been completed.How do I register with the department for electronic funds transfer (EFT)?
You must submit a letter to the Department authorizing the electronic debit of funds from your bank account for the Crown land sales.A sample of the authorization letter is available on the Department’s Web site. Your letter of authorization must indicate the:- name of the bank account
- bank account number
- name of the bank
- transit number identifying the branch where the account will be debited.
How long does it take to get set up as an electronic funds transfer (EFT) client?
It takes two to three weeks to set up an EFT account. A member of the sales area will confirm when your bids can be debited electronically.How do I notify the department if there is a change in my electronic funds transfer (EFT) account?
You can notify the sales area by faxing a letter of authorization and copy of a void cheque to 780-422-1123. A sample of the authorization letter is available on the department’s Web site.How long does it take to change an electronic funds transfer (EFT) account?
It takes one week to change an EFT account. A member of the sales area will confirm when the changes have been completed.How does the electronic funds transfer (EFT) process work?
The Department obtains an electronic banking number that is encrypted with the client’s name in the sales computer system. During the sale process, the computer totals the client’s successful bids and electronically requests the total amount be debited from the authorized bank account. The bidder is responsible for having sufficient funds in the bank on the sale day to cover all bids. If an EFT transaction fails, the bidder will be contacted and an interest charge of 3 percent will be added to the total bid or the parcel may be awarded to the next highest bidder or cancelled by the department.What happens if I do not bid on a parcel of land I posted?
You are expected to bid on all parcels you request. If the parcel is not sold, a no-bid penalty of $625.00 plus GST will be charged.How do I submit a bid for the Public Sale?
You bid on a parcel of mineral rights by submitting a bid request using the department’s secure Electronic Transfer System (ETS). ETS gives you access to a web-based bidding system. If you do not have an ETS account, you will need to apply for an account so that you can do business electronically with the department. If you already have access to ETS, you will need to add bidding to your account by adding the form type "Bidding on Public Offering PNG and Oil Sands" to your existing account. More information about ETS and how to set up an account or change your current account is available at : Learn more >>What happens if I submit a bid using a paper bid form?
The bid will not be considered in the sale because bids will not be accepted in paper format. Only electronic bid requests submitted using ETS will be processed.When does the bidding for a sale close?
The sale closes at precisely 12:00 p.m. (noon) Department time on sale day and bid requests cannot be submitted after the sale closes. ETS will not be available for that particular sale after 12:00 pm.Is it necessary to submit separate bid requests for leases and licences?
Bids for leases and licences can be submitted together in the same bid request. The bid request should be set-up according to your business needs. You can bid on one parcel in a bid request or you can bid on all the parcels in the sale in one bid request or any combination of lease and licence parcels. Bids for P&NG and oil sands parcels can be included in the same bid request. The bid payor is the ETS client who submits the bid. The bid amount will be debited from the bank account of the company who holds the ETS account. If your ETS account is affiliated with one or more companies you must ensure that the company shown as the Client Name (Bid Payor) is the company that has been given approval for Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). If you work for several clients and have access to more than one ETS account, you must take care to ensure that you submit the bid using the correct account. If two or more partners wish to bid on a parcel, then one partner must place the bid on behalf of all partners.What is the minimum bid amount for a parcel (agreement)?
The minimum bonus amount is $2.50 per hectare for a lease and $1.25 per hectare for a licence. Your bid request includes the $625.00 agreement application fee, the first year rental of the agreement of $3.50 per hectare or $50.00 (whichever is greater) and a bonus amount (the amount you are paying to acquire the rights to the agreement). The bonus amount can be entered as a total or as a price per hectare. ETS will calculate the total bid amount by adding the bonus, fee and rental together for each parcel. The system will give you an error message if you enter an amount that is below the minimum bid. You must enter a higher bonus amount or price per hectare and have the system recalculate your bid before you submit the bid request. All bids submitted are considered and each parcel is awarded to the highest bidder for that parcel.Who should I put as the designated representative?
The designated representative is the company or Land Agent appointed to receive all correspondence and notices issued by the Department pertaining to an agreement. If the agreement is being issued in a Land Agent’s name, it is important that you also put the Land Agent as the designated representative. This information is not confidential and is available to the public through a Crown mineral agreement search the day after the sale.Who should I put as the confidential rental payor for my bid?
The confidential rental payor pays the rent for the balance of the agreement term. This field is optional and should be completed if the company paying the rent next year is different than the designated representative. For example, fill in this section if a Land Agent is the designated representative and you would like the rental invoice to be forwarded to someone other than the Land Agent. This information is not public. To qualify the payor must already be signed up with the department for the monthly statement process for paying rent. If the field is left blank the designated representative will be responsible for paying the rent.When and where are the sales results available?
The name of each successful lessee and the bonus paid for each parcel is included in the results published at approximately 3:30 pm on sale date. No information is provided on unsuccessful bids.You can receive a copy of the sales results electronically by subscribing to the department’s electronic mailing list. Subscription instructions are available on the Department’s Web site. Learn more >>
Results are available on the department website in three formats; csv, pdf and xml. Learn more >>
D. ELECTRONIC AGREEMENT DOCUMENTS
How do I acquire a copy of the agreement document?
Electronic agreement documents will be created on ETS upon finalization of the sale. Only the designated representative can pick up the agreement document. The designated representative will logon to ETS to retrieve the documents from the Request Status folder.How do I access ETS to pick up documents?
If you do not have an ETS account, you will need to apply for an account so that you can do business electronically with the department. If you already have access to ETS, you will need to add the form type "Crown PNG and Oil Sands Document Retrieval for Designated Representative" to your existing account. More information about ETS and how to set up an account or change your current account is available at: Learn more >>How do I know when the documents are ready?
The designated representative will receive an email telling them that the documents are ready for pick-up approximately 10-15 days after a sale.Who will receive the notification email within the designated representative company?
The site administrator of the designated representative company must create client accounts and then give each account holder "viewer" status for agreement documents. Everyone with viewer status within the company will receive an email and will be able to retrieve the documents. If you have questions concerning public sales of Crown petroleum and natural gas rights, please call our information line at 780-644-2577.Back to Top
