Discuss: to sign a lease or not?
In an effort to provide a community forum where divergent and frequently noisy views can be aired, Breathing has solicited articles from property owners who are considering signing natural gas leases or who, after months of deliberation, have completed the signing. There have been difficulties and I had to decide whether or not to publish an anonymous post. In the end, I decided a wide-ranging discussion of the issues facing our communities is more critical than identifying our author who fears for her job if her name is released. I hope her obvious concern for the land and our cultures is sufficient to set minds at ease. She’s known to me. She’s not a figment. She’s not greedy and she’s not oblivious to the dangers posed by drilling – and cited to regularly by Breathing. Hers is an important voice that sheds light — whether or not you agree with her conclusions.
via Natural Gas Leases/Hydraulic Fracturing: One Property Owner’s View « Breathing is Political.
Legal fight looms as gas companies attempt to use loophole to extend leases | stargazette.com | Star-Gazette
Force majeure allows lease extensions when a gas company is prevented from fulfilling its lease obligations by unexpected or unforeseen incidents not under their control.
In these cases, gas companies claim, the unexpected incident is the lack of the generic environmental impact statement for Marcellus drilling.
Marcellus Shale brings big checks for some landowners | Breaking Midstate News with The Patriot-News – - PennLive.com
This weekend, many of the 700 or so land owners who were at Black Walnut to lease their land got a significant indication of the potential of the Marcellus play.
The land owners formed a group to negotiate leases of their land with Chesapeake, a major gas industry player, and they reached a collective deal that fetched $5,750 per acre for drilling rights on their total of 37,000 acres, with more money to follow in the future in the form of royalties.
“God has put the Marcellus Shale underneath our property,” said Lines-Burgess, a spokeswoman for the group. “We are about the luckiest people in the whole world right now.”
Elexco wins case over landowner plaintiff – Wikimarcellus
During September, 2009 a report appeared about about a pending appeal before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the Kilmer vs. ElexCo case. A Susquehanna County judge had ruled that ElexCo, et. al. had not been liable when the plaintiff, Kilmer, charged that defendants had failed to pay him the full 12.5 percent royalty required by Pennsylvania law. The defendants, ElexCo, et. al. argued that the lease allowed the company to deduct certain costs and expenses first before paying the royalty including assessments, taxes, and transportation. The plaintiff had appealed the lower court ruling to the Supreme Court. The report noted that the case was being closely watched by other oil and gas companies in the state who might have similar kinds of legal exposure.
Fortuna Energy Inc – Wikimarcellus
September, 2009 found Fortuna striking a deal with the ”The Friendsville Group” consisting of 600 landholders in Susquehanna and Bradford counties, Pennsylvania and the New York county of Broome. The company was to pay $5,500/acres on a five year lease with right to extend the lease for an additional three years. Royalties were to be 20% on production. The total deal amounted to $165 million for drilling rights to 30,000 acres in the three counties. C. Warren Trainor, a Philadelphia attorney, represented The Friendsville Group in the negotiation. Update, September 17, 2009: Despite The Friendsville Group having accepted Fortuna’s offer, [[Chesapeake Energy]] made a counter-offer amounting to $5,750/acre, 20% royalty and only a 5 year lease with no right to extend for another three years. A Fortuna spokes person indicated that despite the counter-offer, the company remained confident that it would still be able the to lease their minimum contingency acreage for the deal to go through which was 20,000 acres. Apparently, members of the group are at liberty to lease to whomever they choose.
Rex Energy Corporation – Wikimarcellus
Also, in July, 2009, Rex was in the news when several Westmoreland landowners sued the company over alleged breach of contract regarding leases they had signed for drilling rights. One of the suits had already settled out-of-court. However, three landowners in Derry and Ligonier townships had filed a class action lawsuit against Rex in the Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court, claiming that the company had defaulted on its lease agreements with them and failed to make promised payments. The company, defended by Greensburg attorney George N. Stewart is disputing these claims. The plaintiffs are represented by David A. Borkovic of Sewickley.
What the Natural Gas Industries Do to Your Land | OtegoNY.com
You can trust the gas company and their flunkeys, and you can trust some little lawyer, or you can see what happens to community after community and trust the truth.
Listen to the first words this landowner says, “This was very easy to figure out – it was a cover-up. And the DEP did nothing.”
via What the Natural Gas Industries Do to Your Land | OtegoNY.com.
The Back Yard Test | pressconnects.com
Everybody knows and most people operate by the NIMBY doctrine. NIMBY of course is the mnemonic that stands for; Not In My Back Yard. The conflict which is a result of the cause and consequence of this doctrine are currently being played out in the Southern Tier of New York state, along the Pennsylvania border. The cause of the conflict is that there may be a commercially viable amount of natural gas in the Marcellus shale deposit that underlies the region. Several natural gas companies have signed up some area land owners for the rights to drill gas wells on their property. The payments for these leases range from a pittance to a whole lot of money depending on size, location, legal representation and timing of the deal. Most residents of the area have not leased the underground mineral and gas rights to their property due to mainly size and location of their property. The consequence is that virtually all of the residents of the area, lease holders or not, are subject to the effect on the environmental that will be a result of the gas drilling and the technique that will be used.
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Water flows downhill! In the process of high pressure insertion and the resulting wide spread infusion into the fractured subsurface earth of the water, chemicals and dislodged materials, the more complete answer is; the water flows everywhere and anywhere. It flows where leases have been contracted and it flows where they have not. In the process, the water, chemicals and dislodged materials mix and mingle with the underground water supply beneath land that is leased and land that is not. In the Southern Tier of New York State along the Pennsylvania border, water and everything in it, flows downhill into the Susquehanna River and ultimately into the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
via The Back Yard Test | pressconnects.com | Press & Sun-Bulletin.
Chesapeake Stops Worrying and Learns to Love Low Gas Prices
Chesapeake’s got a dominant position in each of the top shale plays — what it now refers to as the Big Four. From the Haynesville to the Marcellus, these are low-cost leaders that ought to generate strong rates of return in today’s environment. That’s a strong part of the equation, and a reason look to favorably on neighboring players like Encore Acquisition and Range Resources (NYSE: RRC).
By hedging its production to the tune of 80% in 2009, Chesapeake gets the best of both worlds: gas price realizations that don’t fall, and service costs that do. On the call, the company said it is “renegotiating rates downward with every vendor, large and small on every new well.” That’s bad news for folks like Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) and Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI), but great news for those with the ability to keep drilling.
via Chesapeake Stops Worrying and Learns to Love Low Gas Prices.
Oil and Gas at Your Door?
Oil and Gas at Your Door? (2005 Edition)
A landowner’s guide to oil and gas development.
Lisa Sumi, 4/15/2004
This 200-page guide was written to help demystify the oil and gas development process and provide landowners with a greater knowledge of their legal rights and laws that pertain to oil and gas development. It provides detailed information on the oil and gas development process; the potential impacts and issues related to drilling and operations; the regulation of oil and gas; landowner legal issues; negotiating surface use agreements; and numerous landowner stories.
The first edition of the guide was produced in 2004. Due to popular demand, OGAP updated the guide and produced this second edition, which was released in 2005. If you have a copy of the original guide, the 2005 updates are available in an easily downloadable format.
This is a large file (5 MB). Individual chapters are available for download.
Natural Gas and Oil Leasing Landowner Groups Directory
Natural Gas/Oil Landowner Groups Directory
*Member Managed Landowner groups list for FREE.
*Professionally managed Landowner Groups should list under Consultants/Brokers in the SERVICES LISTING & CLASSIFIEDS
Kirkwood coalition OKs $48M gas deal | pressconnects.com | Press & Sun-Bulletin
Members of the Kirkwood Gas Coalition have voted in favor of a proposal that could give them $48 million over the next eight years.
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The 423 members of the coalition Friday night approved the proposal, which would pay them about $4,800 per acre for mineral rights to their properties over eight years, Marchie Diffendorf, the coalition’s chairman, said Saturday night.
via Kirkwood coalition OKs $48M gas deal | pressconnects.com | Press & Sun-Bulletin.
Marcellus Shale land lull settles in – Washington Business Journal:
No one’s knocking on Gary Sheppard’s door. And judging from the calls he gets as a gas lease educator, no one’s knocking on doors anywhere else.
The land grab in the promising Marcellus Shale has been silenced by a more pressing need: cash.
“Which makes sense because the sheer dollars going around were monstrous,” Sheppard said. “We saw them hit that $3,000 per acre mark. We saw royalty rates change. We heard 17, 18, 19 percent. Of course, we don’t hear anything now. It’s quiet as a mouse.”
For many oil and gas companies looking to secure their fortune in the natural gas reservoir that spans most of the state, the strategy was to grab first and develop later.
via Marcellus Shale land lull settles in – Washington Business Journal:.
Mineral Rights | Oil & Gas Lease and Royalty Information
Mineral Rights
Basic information about mineral, surface, oil and gas rights.
via Mineral Rights | Oil & Gas Lease and Royalty Information.
Opportunities for People to Share Gas Concerns with DEC
Hearings in Elmira, Binghamton Provide Opportunities for People to …
WNYC – The Brian Lehrer Show: Unconventional Play (July 22, 2008)
WNYC – The Brian Lehrer Show: Unconventional Play (July 22, 2008).
WNYC, in a joint investigation with ProPublica, a non-profit investigative news organization, recently discovered that New York State legislators have been aggressively promoting the exploration of natural gas in New York’s Macellus Shale, a type of gas-rich sediment. WNYC reporter Ilya Marritz, who investigated the practice, and ProPublica reporter Abrahm Lustgarten discuss the environmental controversies of natural gas exploration.
WSKG On Demand Jukebox
Community Conversation: Marcellus Shale Drilling
hosted by WSKG’s Crystal Sarakas, Tues. 11/18/08
audio file
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