Barnett Shale

Mont Del lease: near-record bonus, HOA cash and a bench

Folks in Benbrook held out long enough and finally agreed to a deal with XTO Energy for a lease that will pay property owners a per-acre bonus of $22,500.

The Mont Del Estates Homeowners Association had been negotiating with both XTO Energy and Chesapeake Energy since the end of last year. Here's what we said about it at that time.

According to the signed lease offer dated today, here are more details of the lease:

• 25 percent royalty
• 3-year initial term with an option for another two years and another signing bonus then of $15,000 per acre
• Extra $12,500 will be paid by XTO to the homeowners assocation
• XTO will pay for a stone bench and will install it at the duck pond that is bound by Park and Mont Del. The bench is "subject to XTO's reasonable approval of the cost thereof."
• Property measured to the middle of the street
• XTO will located its drill site locations outside of an area bound by State Highway 183 on the north, Bryant Irvin Avenue on the east, Loop 820 on the south and the Trinity Rvier on the west.

XTO, which was represented by Carla Petroleum in the land lease, will hold a signing party within 30 days after it mails out offers to all homeowners within the group.

--David Wethe

Bellaire Corridor (FW) group has a lease deal

The Bellaire group says it has a lease deal with Carla Petroleum, representing XTO Energy. Click here to visit the group's web site.

-- Scott Nishimura

Activity bubbling up in Wedgwood (Fort Worth)

Chesapeake Energy confirmed today that it bought the Southcliff Shopping Center last week in southwest Fort Worth for a potential drilling site.

That has caught the attention of several nearby neighbors and businesses, including the newly formed Greater Wedgwood Gas Coalition.

The shopping center is at the southeast corner of Granbury Road and Interstate 20, not far from Hulen Mall.

Jerri Robbins, spokeswoman for Chesapeake, said the drilling company does not yet know when it plans to start drilling on the land and how much of the 12.75 acres would be used for drilling.

The Wedgwood Gas Coalition was formed in March and is currently working with two offers that came in around that time:

• $17,000-per-acre bonus, from Carla Petroleum, representing XTO Energy, with a 25 percent royalty and a three-year primary term and an additional two-year option
• $13,000-per-acre bonus, from Dale Resources, representing Chesapeake, with a 25 percent royalty and a three-year primary term and an additional two-year option

But Tolli Thomas, spokeswoman for the Wedgwood group, said her coalition is planning to send out a counter offer later this week to both groups and a proposed contract that Wedgwood would like to see.

Here are the six neighborhood associations that have merged:

• Wedgwood Square
• Wedgwood East
• Wedgwood West
• Wedgwood Central
• Wedgwood Middle
• Overton South

The group now represents about 5,000 homes and 2,000 acres, Thomas said. Property owners in the Wedgwood Neighborhood Association (which is different from all the other Wedgwood groups mentioned above) are still deciding whether it makes sense to going the Greater Wedgwood Gas Coalition, she said.

Here's what we initially have said about property owners in the Wedgwood area.

--David Wethe

Marine Creek property owners get lease offers

A property owner in Marine Creek Estates, northwest of Loop 820 and east of Boat Club Road, reports a lease offer from Carla Petroleum, which is working the area for XTO Energy.

Offered lease terms: $5,000-per-acre signing bonus, three-year term, two-year option, 25 percent royalty. The offer expires in 45 days.

-- Scott Nishimura

N. Benbrook holds out, gets lease competition

Homeowners in North Benbrook began receiving lease offers six months ago from agents acting on behalf of Chesapeake Energy, but things are heating up.

Here's the update:

• Chesapeake -- through both Four Sevens and Colt Exploration --initially offered a signing bonus of $4,000 per acre and 25 percent royalty, but told homeowners at a recent meeting that they would bump that up to $5,000 an acre, said Morris Scales, an organizer in the North Benbrook Neighborhood Association. The royalty is 25 percent and the term five years. Chesapeake has sent offers to virtually all of the North Benbrook area, except parts of Westvale, which may be due to uncertainty over drill sites, the neighborhood says. Scales says the neighborhood believes Chesapeake may be preparing to increase the bonus again.
• HTP and Associates, which the neighborhood believes is signing leases in Benbrook on behalf of Paloma Resources, has sent lease offers broadly to North Benbrook, offering a $5,000 per-acre signing bonus, 25 percent royalty, three-year term, and two-year option, Scales said. HTP also has "indicated they plan to up that to $8,000," Scales said.
• Fleet Oil & Gas, which has been trying to sign leases in the Timbercreek/Trinity Gardens/Trinity Estates neighborhoods in Benbrook, has sent out offers to parts of Westvale, Scales and Gayle Hebert, president of the North Benbrook association, said. They did not know what the terms were. A Fleet landman, who Scales said is the son of a local Italian restaurant owner, sponsored a pizza party last Saturday to try and sign leases.
• North Benbrook has also been trying to interest XTO Energy, and an XTO representative contacted the neighborhood association on Friday to ask whether it would be interested in an $8,000-per-acre signing bonus that would cover the area, Scales and Hebert said. Hebert said the response from the association's attorney was "probably not," but the neighborhood doesn't think that chapter of the story ends there. "XTO has told us they are serious about coming into the area," Scales says.
• The association has been organizing since June, after Chesapeake quickly signed up large numbers of leases in Benbrook's Pecan Valley neighborhood. The association has broken the neighborhood up into teams representing Brookhaven (220 homes), North Benbrook Central (750 homes), and North Benbrook East (375 homes), and assigned two "street captains" per street to pass out fliers, gather names and contact information, and collect the $50-per-household fee for the attorney the neighborhood plans to use, Hebert said.
• The association's attorney has also suggested that it incorporate Fort Worth's Western Hills neighborhood into the North Benbrook negotiating group for more clout, Scales and Hebert said. Representatives of the two neighborhoods were due to meet this weekend, Scales said.

Hebert said the neighborhood has been able to get homeowners to hold off from signing since Chesapeake signed up most of Pecan Valley.

Apart from that neighborhood, "I don't think even 10 percent have signed," she said Saturday, as she was walking through her neighborhood passing out fliers and tickets to the next neighborhood association meeting.

That meeting is 6:30 p.m. Nov. 27 at Waverly Park Elementary School. The meeting is open only to Benbrook East property owners (Sunset Terrace, Dunlap Addition, Westvale, and North Benbrook Addition), Hebert said. Property owners must have tickets from the association to attend. Click here for contact info.

After that meeting, the neighborhood is looking to hold another meeting to bring the Brookhaven, North Benbrook Central, and North Benbrook East groups together, possibly as early as December, Scales said.

Some of the North Benbrook drill sites are controversial. Hebert said the neighborhood is largely OK with one potential Chesapeake site off of Mary's Creek, near Pecan Valley.

But both HTP and Chesapeake, and possibly Fleet, are interested in drill sites in Palomino Estates, a subdivision in the middle of North Benbrook that is under development, Scales and Hebert said. The neighborhood has already put the city on notice that it will oppose any drilling in Palomino Estates.

"It's too close to homes," Hebert said.

It's not clear how the plans of the drilling companies would be affected by the unavailability of sites in Palomino Estates, she and Scales said. The neighborhood isn't clear on where XTO might drill from.

Leasing activity has picked up throughout Benbrook. Competition for leases has broken out in Mont Del/Country Day Estates and homeowners in Timber Creek/Trinity Gardens/Trinity Estates are trying to foment a lease battle. Colt is working leases in North Benbrook for Chesapeake and in Timber Creek for XTO.

We want to hear about what's happening in your part of Benbrook! To fill us in, please drop us an email at snishimura@star-telegram.com.

-- Scott

(S-T photos: Pecan Valley Golf Course, Pecan Valley Park)

Lease battle busts out in Benbrook's Mont Del

Benbrook's Mont Del Estates Homeowner Association is asking property owners not to rush into signing sweetened offers they've received from Carla Petroleum/XTO Energy and Four Sevens/Chesapeake Energy.

"Our position right now is there's no rush to do anything," said Dwayne Hitt, an attorney and president of the Mont Del association. "The offers that we are getting ($10,000-per-acre signing bonus, 25 percent royalty) are behind ones that have been signed in Fort Worth. Noone is giving us any good reason for that. Our belief is that these offers would and should increase."

Offers began arriving in Mont Del mailboxes in October, and the financial terms have moved up quickly.

Mont Del's five-member committee is studying model leases and meeting with other neighborhood associations along what they've dubbed the "Bellaire Drive Corridor." Several adjoining associations, including Mont Del, have been holding discussions to determine if teaming up makes sense, Hitt said. Another meeting of that group is scheduled.

"We will look at what we have in common...and whether we can negotiate effectively as an alliance," Hitt said.

One group that may make a very logical partner with Mont Del is Country Day Estates, which neighbors Mont Del to the north and apparently is receiving the same offers as Mont Del, Hitt said. Mont Del is bordered by Highway 183 on the north, Loop 820 on the South, and Bellaire Drive and the Trinity River on the west.

Hitt said his committee is also studying environmental impact and other issues, along with the financial terms. The drill sites don't aren't controversial with the Mont Del group at this point. Carla/XTO have indicated they plan to drill south of Interstate 20 and Chesapeake has said it's secured a drill site along Vickery Boulevard, Hitt said. (Other Benbrook neighborhoods south of Interstate 20 also say they've heard of prospective drill sites near the highway.)

-- Scott

Mont Del (Benbrook) offers keep getting richer

A Benbrook property owner reports that Four Sevens/Chesapeake has now matched the Carla Petroleum/XTO Energy offer to residents of Mont Del Estates and scheduled four signing parties.

-- Scott

Benbrook's Mont Del stokes competition for leases

Property owners in Benbrook's Mont Del Estates neighborhood are getting some competition for their leases.

A property owner reports that Carla Petroleum, signing leases in the area on behalf of XTO Energy, has issued a fresh offer that includes a $10,000-per-acre signing bonus. Carla had been offering an $8,000 bonus, five-year term, and 25 percent royalty.

It has competition from Four Sevens/Chesapeake Energy, which property owners say was offering the same terms as Carla's first offer.

Property owners in North Benbrook have been organizing around their lease offers since June, and property owners east of Winscott Road are organizing.

-- Scott