Barnett Shale

Lawyers address neighborhood regarding aborted gas leases

An attorney told a southwest Fort Worth neighborhood association Tuesday night that a litigation group formed by three Dallas law firms might seek hundreds of millions of dollars in damages against energy companies that reached lease agreements with alliances of neighborhood associations, but then declined to enter into individual lease contracts with many property owners.

"The promises they (energy companies) made to Fort Worth were maybe $150 million," attorney Kip Petroff told members of the Meadows of CandleRidge Neighborhood Association who packed a meeting at a Knights of Columbus hall. Petroff said the companies could be sued for triple damages, plus attorneys' fees, under provisions of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

The litigation group has filed a lawsuit in Dallas on behalf of an Arlington couple, Willie and Carmen Booth, that it contends is due a lease bonus of nearly $5,000 from XTO Energy as a result of an agreement that the South East Arlington Coalition of Texas, an alliance of neighborhoods, reached for lease bonuses of $26,517 per acre. The Meadows of CandleRidge association was part of the Southwest Fort Worth Alliance, which reached an agreement with Vantage Energy for lease bonuses of $27,500 per acre. Meadows of CandleRidge Association President Eva Bonilla stressed Tuesday night that the organization was not endorsing the litigation group's legal effort, but only allowing it to hold an informational session.

The energy companies sued by the Booths are expected to contend that they were not bound to pay lease bonuses negotiated with alliances of homeowner groups unless the companies had entered into binding lease contracts with individual property owners.

Read more about this in Thursday's Star-Telegram.

--Jack Z. Smith

SE Arlington group backs record lease with XTO Energy

A big southeast Arlington neighborhood group said Friday it has endorsed a lease with XTO Energy that will pay the area’s highest signing bonus yet reported, $26,517 an acre, along with a generous royalty of 26.5 percent. Mark Middleton, an organizer of South East Arlington Communities of Texas (SEACTX), said the group on April 1 actively started seeking bids to lease the mineral rights of roughly 6,000 acres covered by about 20 neighborhoods in the group. It reached agreement with Fort Worth-based XTO Thursday afternoon, Middleton said. SEACTX also drew interest from Chesapeake Energy, Devon Energy and Antero Resources Barnett Corp, he said. Chesapeake is the busiest driller in the Barnett Shale, while Devon is the biggest producer but has mostly stayed out of the urban area. Antero sold its Barnett Shale properties to XTO in early 2005, but recently re-entered the play, Middleton said.

Middleton said he understands that among the drillers, only Chesapeake had secured a drill site, located just south of Seguin High School. But property owners committed to sign with XTO virtually surround that site, and he expects the two big competitors to work out a deal to give XTO use of the site.
XTO and Chesapeake representatives could not be reached for comment late Friday.

SEACTX extends mostly south and east of Arlington Municipal Airport. Click here to view the group's map of its boundaries.

-- Jim Fuquay

From a lease negotiation springs a community...

SEACTX (South East Arlington Communities) reports on its web site and in an email update that a couple of byproducts have sprung up from its effort to market a community gas lease: a crime watch and database of small business owners in the neighborhoods.

The group, which recently merged with the POSAR group of Southwest Arlington, says it's building a crime watch that will call for volunteers from every subdivision. Interested? You may send an email to the group at duramaxhd@sbcglobal.net.

The group also wants small business owners in the neighborhoods to let them know you are. "We will create a reference list...and post to the website, blog, and email to support our own community when we must spend that money for specific services," the group says. "We want to strive toward a tighter community, like it used to be." The group asks small business owners to respond to the same email address with your business and owner name, email, phone, and line of business.

SEACTX, which takes in 45 neighborhoods (visit the web site to see if your neighborhood is included) in far south Arlington from Texas 360 to U.S. 287, has also put a copy of the lease it's marketing on its web site. Among the terms it's looking for: a 30 percent royalty, structured to be free of post-production/transportation costs.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photo: Juan Seguin High band)

Arlington's SEACTX, POSAR groups merge

Two large South Arlington groups report they've combined into one.

The Southeast Arlington Communities of Texas (SEACTX, pronounced SEEK-Texas) has merged with Property Owners of South Arlington (POSAR). The group takes in a large swath of far South Arlington from U.S. 287 to Texas 360. Click here to visit the SEACTX site and here to visit the POSAR site.

Click here to read our previous posts on SEACTX and here to read our previous posts on POSAR.

-- Scott Nishimura

CAPO (SE Arlington) is city's latest acronym/group

We should award prizes here at the Barnett Shale blog for best new neighborhood group names. Arlington apparently hasn't run out of fresh acronyms for its neighborhood groups. Up steps CAPO (click here for its web site), which stands for Central Arlington Property Owners.

The group abuts the north end of SEAPO, and the neighborhoods it aims to represent are more southeasterly than central: Pioneer Parkway to the south, Cooper Street to the west, Park Row to the north, Susan Drive on the east, and east of Texas 360. The group's northern boundary also jogs up to take Mitchell Street. The neighborhoods are predominantly Hispanic, with many Spanish speakers, says Ricky Esqueda, lead organizer of CAPO.

We blogged Wednesday about offers the group has been receiving from Carrizo Oil & Gas.

Carrizo, in offers it's been sending out for about two weeks, is offering a two-choice menu, with lease bonuses ranging between $18,000 and $25,000 per acre. Esqueda says that's presented a challenge for property owners in his neighborhoods, with some homeowners signing off immediately at lease signing meetings Carrizo has been holding at the Bob Duncan Community Center.

Esqueda says the lease offers are "inferior" to what's been offered elsewhere in Arlington. Through fliers, the group's web site, and word of mouth, the group is spreading the message that property owners should wait. Property owners realize "they have an asset that is worth some money to the oil and gas community," says Esqueda, an accountant.

The neighborhood organizers' goal is "to help people become better informed on their decision, before they make a rash decision," he says. "I think that message is getting across."

CAPO wants to build its lease off of the SEAPO form, and SEAPO leaders are mentoring CAPO, Esqueda says.

To reach the group, visit its web site. Phone is (817) 705-5272. Email address is capo.group@yahoo.com.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photos: Blanton Elementary School, Carter Junior High assembly)

Arlington offers jump 303, move north of SEAPO

A property owner just to the north of SEAPO territory in southeast Arlington reports that Carrizo Oil & Gas is making lease offers north of Pioneer Parkway.

The offered terms from Eagle Land Services, Carrizo's agent: $25,000-per-acre bonus, 20 percent royalty, three-year primary term; or, an $18,000-per-acre bonus, 25.5 percent royalty, and three-year term. The offer is the same one that Eagle and Carrizo have been making to homeowners in the SEAPO group, which recently negotiated a deal with Paloma Resources on behalf of Chesapeake Energy. Carrizo claims to be the only company that can reach the neighborhood, which is north of Pioneer Parkway, west of New York Avenue, and east of Collins Street, says the homeowner, who's interested in joining a group.

SEAPO's boundaries are Interstate 20 on the south, Texas 360 on the north, Arkansas Lane on the north, and Matlock Road on the west.

Is a new neighborhood group -- and, if so, yet another new Arlington acronym -- in the making? Please feel free to use the comments section on this blog post to get the conversation going.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photo: Hutcheson Junior High)

New SE Arlington group -- and acronym -- debuts

Just when you thought Arlington had run out of acronyms for neighborhood groups, up drives SEACTX.  How do you pronounce this one? We'll leave that to the group.

It stands for South East Arlington Communities of Texas, and it takes in many neighborhoods southeast of Arlington Municipal Airport and Green Oaks that have been receiving lease offers and looking for a larger group to join.

The group says on its web site that it represents at least 20 neighborhoods thus far. Its boundaries right now (click here to view the group's map) are Southeast Green Oaks on the north, Texas 360 on the east (zigzagging around Tarrant County College Southeast), Mansfield Webb Road on the South, and Silo Road on the west, except where the boundary line stretches farther west to take in the neighborhoods around Workman Park.

"We have already been contacted by three different companies wanting our mineral rights," the group says in an email message.

Neighborhoods in the group thus far include: Ambercrest Esta tes, Arlington Meadows, BrookMeadow Estates, Brownlee Estates, Creekside HOA, Coldwater Creek, Collins Terrace, The Colonial Greens South, Colson Estates, Eden Creek Estates, Eden Creek HOA, Fossil Lake Addition, Grand Park Estates, Hunters Trail, Lonesome Dove Estates, Meadow Vista Estates, Nature's Glen, Ridgecrest Estates, South Park HOA, and Western Trails.

For contact information on the group and its member neighborhoods, click here. The group says it is now soliciting bids for a community lease, with all bids "expected" by April 2. The group asks homeowners not to sign leases in the interim.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photos: Math lesson at Ashworth Elementary, Ashworth Maypole celebration at Tarrant County College Southeast)

SEAPO (SE Arlington) sets lease signing dates

SEAPO (Southeast Arlington Property Owners), which last week reached a record-breaking $22,000-per-acre gas lease deal with Paloma Resources on behalf of Chesapeake Energy, has set dates for several lease signing meetings. Here they are:

Mayfield Road Baptist Church, 1701 E. Mayfield Road, Arlington

• Times: 8 a.m.-noon, 2 p.m.-7 p.m.
• Dates: March 20, 24, 25, 27, 31; April 1, 3, 5 (added, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. only on this date), 7, 8 (added), 10.

Vietnamese Martyrs Catholic Church, Mayfield and Collins Street, Arlington

• Times: 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Dates: March 24, 25, 27, 31; April 1, 3, 7, 8, 10.

What to bring:

• Photo ID for anybody who's signing the lease.
• Anybody listed on the property title must be present and sign the lease. Married couples must both sign Out-of-town property owners can be handled by courier service.

What to expect:

• Lease terms are $22,000-per-acre bonus, 25 cost-free royalty, 3-year primary term, 2-year option.
• You will get a voucher for a bonus payment check to be received in 20 business days.

SEAPO organizers cautioned property owners against signing any leases presented by land agents who are going door to door. Following SEAPO's announcement Friday that Paloma had won the sealed-bid competition for the neighborhood lease, agents representing Carrizo Oil & Gas went door to door offering leases with a greater bonus but lesser royalty, according to SEAPO leaders.

"Paloma will no longer be going door-to-door offering leases, so refuse to sign anything that any other landman offers you at your doorstep," SEAPO organizer Jim Colley said in a message to property owners. "It will not be the SEAPO deal."

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photos: Service at Vietnamese Martyrs, pledge at Burgin Elementary)

Having a meeting on the Barnett Shale? Publicize it here, on our Community Calendar!

Carrizo tries to crash SE Arlington party

And a fine predicament this is.

Just Friday, SEAPO (Southeast Arlington Property Owners) leaders announced they won an area neighborhood record $22,000-per-acre lease bonus, 25 percent cost-free royalty, and other provisions with Paloma Resources, which is signing leases there on behalf of Chesapeake Energy. The deal was done through a sealed bid process.

The bonus offer by itself has set Arlington abuzz this weekend. But now, neighborhood leaders confirm that agents for the rival Carrizo Oil & Gas have been going door to door over the last few days, offering a lease with a $25,000-per-acre signing bonus and 25 percent royalty.

Jim Colley, a lead SEAPO organizer, says the agents working on behalf of Carrizo portray their offer as better. But he said the situations aren't the same. The Paloma deal was one won through the bidding process, he asserts, while Carrizo's proposal is just an offer. The Paloma deal now has an inferior bonus, Colley concedes, but the "back end" will cost more, because the Carrizo-offered royalty subtracts production costs, he said. The Paloma royalty does not.

"Our people are pretty well educated" and will recognize the differences, Colley said.

-- Scott Nishimura

$22,000 bonus in Southeast Arlington

It will be a happy signing ceremony in Southeast Arlington this coming week.

The bidding process used by the Southeast Arlington Property Owners (SEAPO) group has gleaned a record signing bonus of $22,000 with a 25 percent royalty. The term of the mineral rights lease is three years with a two year option. In order to get the two-year option, the drilling company would have to pay the full bonus amount again, said Jim Colley, one of the primary organizers of the neighbhorhood group. Click here to visit SEAPO's web site.

UPDATE: Click here to read staffer Bill Bowen's story on the SEAPO deal.

In less than four weeks, the group organized, gathered a list of residents, organzied a 10-member negotiating committee and solicited bids from drilling and mineral rights  leasing companies. The group also held informational meetings at a local church that also included Spanish and Vietnamese language translators. The neighbhorhood represents more than 7,600 residential parcels spread across 1,895 acres. It is bounded by Interstate 20, Matlock Road, Texas Highway 360 and Arkansas lane.

"We pretty much delivered the entire neighborhood so we negotiated from a position of strength," Colley said.

The winning bid was submitted by Paloma Resources representing Chesapeake Energy.

Jerri Robbins, manager of public relations in the Barnett Shale field for Chesapeake Enrgy, wouldn't elaborate on the record-setting deal.

"There was a bid process and Paloma won," Robbins said.

The bid tops the previous record of about $18,000 in southern Fort Worth that was reported by property owners but never confirmed by the company.

Lease signings for the Southeast Arlington neighborhood will begin next week at the Mayfield Road Baptist Church and the following week at the Vietnamese Martyr's Catholic Church at the intersection of Mayfield Road and Collins Street. 

-- Bill Bowen

(Photos: Bowie High School football, girls basketball, graduation)