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XTO Energy is offering some residents of Benbrook and southwest Fort Worth $25 for the right to conduct a 3-D seismic survey of their property, to help the company tap Barnett Shale natural gas, Barry Shlachter, an S-T business reporter, writes. Click here for the full report, in Saturday's paper.
-- Scott Nishimura
Wish No. 3: That we make the Barnett Shale boom last longer than a BMW. Click here to read Mitch's column.
Click here to read Star-Telegram opinion columns and editorials on urban gas drilling.
Click here to read Mitch's other columns.
-- Scott Nishimura
Homeowners in Arlington's Woodland West neighborhood have scheduled a meeting, 1-3 p.m. Saturday Jan. 5, at the Dottie Lynn Recreation Center, 3500 Norwood Lane, to discuss their approach to lease offers from Dale Resources.
"We currently have over a hundred and fifty homeowners who have joined us," the group says in a flier. "We are receiving emails and phone calls on a daily basis. We invite all other property owners in Woodland West and vicinity to join us. This can mean dollars in your pocket."
Contact info for the group: Mel Goodson, Mel_Goodson@sbcglobal.net, or Ron McKim at athalmckim@yahoo.com. Their phones: Goodson, (817) 274-6569, McKim, (817) 274-2833.
Click here to visit the group's web site.
-- Scott Nishimura
(Photo: a program at the Woodland West Public Library)
Several south Arlington neighborhoods have organized to approach gas lease offers. Here's the update:
Nine neighborhoods -- Collinwood Village, Colonial Estates, Fairfield, Greenleaf Addition, South Hampton, Summerwood, Valley Springs, Whispering Meadows, and Winding Creek -- have organized together and retained two attorneys who will act as agents and be paid based on an increase over the current offered signing bonuses. Here's the group's web site and contact info. Interested property owners can also contact attorney Daniel Webb at inquiry@danielpwebb.com. Here's a map of the group's coverage area: south of Green Oaks Boulevard, east of South Cooper Street, north of Sublett Road and Lynn Creek, and west of Cravens Road. Matlock Road bisects the map.
The group says it expects to begin talks with several energy companies it says have expressed interest, including Carrizo Oil & Gas, Paloma Resources, Four Sevens/Chesapeake Energy, XTO Energy, and Fleet Oil and Gas. So far, Cheaha Land Services, acting on behalf of Carrizo, is the only company that has offered to sign leases broadly in the neighborhoods, said Brian Smith, bskipsmith@sbcglobal.net, a Summerwood property owner and one of group's organizers.
Cheaha has been offering to sign leases in the neighborhoods at 
signing bonuses of $700 per property, but recently offered to bump that up to $1,000 during face to face visits with homeowners, Smith said. In recent conversations between his group and Cheaha, Cheaha representatives appeared open to negotiating with the large group, which represents 2,500 parcels of land, Smith said. Cheaha landmen are still aggressively working the neighborhoods, passing out business cards the day before Christmas, Smith reports.
He also said agents for Hollis R. Sullivan, which has been offering to sign leases elsewhere in south Arlington and Kennedale, have offered leases to some homeowners in the southern portion of his neighborhood group.
Smith says he believes the neighborhoods have been successful at getting homeowners to hold off. An estimated 400-500 property owners showed up to a Dec. 17 meeting.
"We had a very good showing, and we had people who couldn't go who called," he said. Here are Blogging the Barnett Shale's previous posts about leasing in south Arlington.
Neighborhoods off of Turner Warnell, east of Soutb Cooper Street, and west of Matlock Road, almost to Mansfield, are organizing and report offers from Dale Resources on behalf of Chesapeake and Hollis R. Sullivan.
The main two neighborhoods are South Pointe and South Pointe II, said Thomas Lerch, thlerch@tx.rr.com, one of the group's organizers. Dale/Chesapeake is offering to sign leases at $1,000 per lot signing bonuses, 25 percent royalty, three-year term, two-year option, and 640-acre pooling, Lerch said.
Sullivan started by offering to sign leases at $200 per lot bonus, but has since raised that to $1,000. It's also offering a 22 percent royalty and 320-acre pool.
Lerch said his group plans to hold an open meeting Jan. 5 to discuss its next moves. More details to come.
UPDATE: This group has named itself Property Owners of South Arlington. Click here to visit their web site.
-- Scott Nishimura
(Photos, clockwise from top: Basketball pep rally, UIL band competition, Summit High School; Charlotte Anderson Elementary School.)
A group of Northwest Arlington homeowners, in neighborhoods north of Interstate 30, west of Fielder Road, and east and south of Green Oaks Boulevard, reports it's in negotiations with Dale Resources, which is signing leases in the area for Chesapeake Energy.
Dale's original offer, in September, was $2,000-per-acre signing bonus, 22 percent royalty, five years, and 640 acres pooling, among other provisions.
-- Scott Nishimura
(Photos: Lamar High School volleyball, renovating football field at Lamar)
Fans and foes of the Barnett Shale might enjoy this humorous musical number -- an ode to the shale set to the tune of "Jingle Bells." It's part of an Op-Ed package on politically minded parodies of holiday carols.
Click here to read Star-Telegram opinion columns and editorials on urban gas drilling.
-- John Metz
(S-T illustration: "Barnett Shale Wonderland," to the tune of Winter Wonderland")
Pete Beierschmitt thinks Watauga homeowners can get a better deal from Harding Co. and leasing agent Petrocasa and invites his neighbors in Summer Hills to join him. Harding, which has a joint agreement with Exxon Mobil in the Barnett Shale, has filed to drill a well just south of Hightower and west of Rufe Snow Drive. Beierschmitt says Petrocasa first offered $1,500 an acre and a 20 percent royalty, and since has come up to $3,000 and 22 percent. But the city has gotten $3,000 and 25 percent, he says, and figures residents should get at least that. A North Richland Hills reader earlier reported receiving the $1,500/20 percent offer from Petrocasa earlier.
Beierschmitt invites residents to call him at 817-281-4142 or Marty Leicht at 817-577-3561. He says he has about 150 homeowners with him so far.
City officials are renegotiating a deal with the bank that negotiates the city's municipal gas contracts, a move that could save taxpayers millions of dollars. (complete story)
Since 2004, the city has used JPMorgan Chase to negotiate gas-drilling contracts on city-owned land. Under the agreement, the city pays JPMorgan 5 percent of the bonus from each lease and 4 percent of the royalties, or the revenue from the sale of oil and gas.
City Engineering Director Doug Rademaker said Tuesday that the City Council might be able to approve the new contract by the end of January.
"We expect the fees are going to be significantly lower," he said. "I envision we'll bring forward a deal without them getting any royalties."
Last month, the Star-Telegram reported that JPMorgan had earned more than $1.9 million in fees over the past two years, and stands to make millions more as the Barnett Shale drilling boom continues. City officials have estimated that the city will earn $800 million in royalties over the next 20 years from leasing the mineral rights beneath parks, airports, water and sewer plants and Lake Worth. If the contract remains in place, JP Morgan's share could exceed $30 million during that time.
Since the original contract was negotiated, critics have said that the city could save money by doing the work in-house or hiring an oil and gas lawyer.
-- Mike Lee
Increasing efforts to lease the mineral rights under approximately 800 acres in and around Fort Worth’s central business district have prompted Downtown Fort Worth Inc. to ask if its members if they prefer to negotiate as a group rather than individually.
Andy Taft, president of the business group, which also owns the mineral rights to 12 acres of its own property downtown and has received several leasing inquiries, said he plans to send letters to his members in early January. If enough property owners are interested, "we’ll form a working committee to negotiate with the gas companies," he said. Downtown Fort Worth Inc. will not be on the committee, since some of its members are petroleum companies, he said.
-- Jim Fuquay
(Photos: Setting up downtown holiday lights; rain at Burnett Plaza)
Residents in Mansfield's Shannon Creek neighborhood south of Debbie Lane and east of U.S. 287 are organizing a "Unite the Neighborhood Meeting," 6:30 p.m. Thursday Dec. 20 at the Lakeside Church of Christ, Debbie Lane and Breckenridge.
Edge Resources is offering to sign leases in the neighborhood on terms of $5,000 per acre signing bonus, 21 percent royalty, three-year term, and no surface access rights.
"Many of us in this neighborhood feel the signing bonus and the royalty percentage is too low compared to rates of other local areas," the group says in a flier, passed out to residents this week. "We need to band together to get the best rate!"
The group's contacts are Brady Atkins, bgatkins@sbcglobal.net and Carol Bantz, (817) 453-9104.
Here's our previous post on Shannon Creek. Here's a link to the group's web site.
-- Scott Nishimura
