Barnett Shale

Catching up with East Trinity Mineral Leasing Committee (Euless)

The East Trinity Mineral Leasing Committee is well on its way to getting its members signed up for the lease it agreed to last month.

The Euless group, which consists of the Stone Hollow Addition and the Park Hollow Addition subdivisions, is recommending that its members sign the offer from Cheaha Land Services, which is representing Carrizo Oil & Gas.

The lease includes a $19,000 per-acre signing bonus, a 25.5 percent royalty and an initial three year term with an option to re-sign for another two years at $12,667 per acre.

Dale Property Services later sent competing offers of $17,000 an acre, a 25 percent royalty, a two-year primary term and a two-year option.

The Euless group has already held four signing meetings and two more are planned. They are:

• Sat., May 10
• Sat., May 17

Both meetings are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Airport Freeway Church of Christ. That's at 210 Airport Freeway in Euless.

--David Wethe

East Trinity (Euless) group says deal may be close

The East Trinity Mineral Lease Committee, which is representing neighborhoods west of Texas 360 and Texas 183, reports it "feels an agreement will be reached this week" on a community gas lease.

Dale Resources, on behalf of Chesapeake Energy, is offering to sign leases at a $17,000-per-acre signing bonus, 25 percent royalty, two-year primary term, and renewal option, the committee's Doug Hackett reports. Cheaha Land Services, on behalf of Carrizo Oil & Gas, is offering a $19,000 per-acre bonus, 25.5 percent royalty, three-year primary term, and renewal option.

"Both companies have agreed to pay to the middle of the street pending title verification," Hackett says.

Dale's offer exceeds its original offer of $2,000 per acre, 20 percent royalty, and five-year primary term, he said. Cheaha's offer exceeds its original offer of $6,000 per acre, 25 percent royalty, three-year primary term, and no renewal option.

The committee "has also tried to get more protective agreements in place for homeowners/landowners such as no warranty of title agreements, which both companies said they would amend," Hackett said.  "The original offers from both companies asked homeowners to warranty title. We feel an agreement will be made this week and hope to have an announcment by Thursday."

The committee also has addressed issues such as "mortgage subordination, the ability of each company to produce minerals, high impact versus urban well permits, and ultimately what will be the most fair deal for homeowners," Hackett said.

Negotiations began in February. Hackett says the group represents more than 1,500 homes and more than 700 acres. The area is bounded by American Boulevard on the east, Trinity Boulevard on the south, Euless Main Street on the west, and Midway Drive on the north. It straddles Texas 183.

For more updates on this group, visit its web site. To view its proposed coverage map, click here.

-- Scott Nishimura

Better offers for S. Arlington's Villages of Fairfield

On March 14, two communities in southeast Arlington -- Villages of Fairfield and North Cravens -- received a written offer from Dale Property Services, on behalf of Chesapeake Energy.

The offer includes a $17,000-per-acre signing bonus and a standard 25 percent royalty, said Misty Beal Crabb, coordinator for North Cravens.

Here's what we said previously about these two communities hooking up and getting offers.

She said that on Feb. 22, Elizabeth Gasca of Carrizo Oil and Gas made a verbal offer to the community for a $15,000-per-acre signing bonus and 25 percent royalty. The groups are now waiting to get that offer in writing, Crabb said.

All told, the area represents about 2,200 homes on about 730 acres, she said. That includes an "adopted area" of the North Cravens community that's north of Fish Creek, south of Cravens Park Drive, east of The Cravens Park and west of the library on Green Oaks.

The proposed drilling site by Carrizo would be near Nathan Lowe and Matlock roads, she said.

The drilling site proposed by Chesapeake would be near at the end of Bardin Road, near the Bell Helicopter area at Arlington Airport, Crabb said.

Click here for the Villages of Fairfield site.

Click here for the North Cravens site.

-- David Wethe

Euless/Fort Worth neighborhoods getting together

The East Trinity Mineral Lease Committee, formed Jan. 30, says it is holding meetings to bring together its approximately 640 households in the Glen Hollow, Park Hollow, Stone Hollow, Trinity Glen, Twin Creek Estates and Whitner Estates neighborhoods. The properties are generally east of Euless Main Street, south of Texas 183, west of American Boulevard and north of Trinity Boulevard.

Organizers Angie and Doug Hackett report negotiations are under way with Dale Property on behalf of Chesapeake Energy and with Cheaha Land on behalf of Carrizo Oil and Gas. No agreements have been reached with with either group. ETMLC has two upcoming meetings scheduled: 1 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of Hilton and Dickey drives for residents of Twin Creek Estates; and 2 p.m. Saturday at 13229 Spinning Glen for residents of Trinity Glen. More information is available at the group's Web site listed above.

-- Jim Fuquay

South Arlington group reports $17,000 lease deal

The South Arlington group Concerned Citizens: Natural Gas Drilling (CCNG) is reporting a negotiated lease deal with Cheaha Land Services that includes a $17,000-per-acre signing bonus and a 25 percent "cost-free" royalty. Click here to visit CCNG's web site for more information, including a map of the coverage area.

-- Scott Nishimura

Fielder Park group backs much-improved lease

Bernetta Glasser of central Arlington's Fielder Park Gas Lease Negotiating Group reports that the organization is supporting an offer from Carrizo Oil and Gas for $15,000 an acre and a 25 percent royalty. She says lease signing started Thursday.

The Fielder Park group's experience is a shining example of how neighborhood cohesion can earn more favorable lease terms for landowners. Carrizo's first offer in July, through its agent Cheaha Land Services, was $1,200 an acre and 23 percent royalty. The competition escalated when Chesapeake Energy and its agent, Western Production Co., entered the fray.

The Fielder Park group's email address is briarwoodestatesarlington@yahoo.com.

Update: Click here for the full Star-Telegram story on this deal.

-- Jim Fuquay

(Photo: Fielder Park)

More South Arlington homeowners organize

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.)

Cheaha confirms it dismissed contract agent

Residents of Summerwood and Colonial Estates additions in south Arlington have been scrambling to try and respond to lease offers they've received from Cheaha Land Services, which has been working Arlington on behalf of Carrizo Oil & Gas.

So, folks weren't happy when word got out that one of Cheaha's agents was removing fliers that the neighborhood had posted on homeowners' doors. One of the homeowners complained. The result: a Cheaha official confirmed Friday afternoon that the company dismissed an agent who was working as a contractor.

The agent's behavior was "not acceptable," a Cheaha official told Blogging the Barnett Shale. "That's not the reputation we want to uphold. There's no reason to take anyone's property. We do not contract out services to people that don't uphold our standards."

The Summerwood homeowners have also put out the word that homeowners should be wary of landmen delivering lease offers, then later calling homeowners to alert them to typos in the leases that needed to be corrected by the company. The neighborhood suggested that was a high-pressure tactic to confuse homeowners into signing.

The Cheaha official said that isn't the case. The official said the only errors "I'm aware of" were clarifications in legal descriptions that needed to be dealt with to ensure the leases were good.

-- Scott

They're gonna need a bigger Starbucks...

The Starbucks at Green Oaks and South Cooper Street in south Arlington can handle a meeting of 25 people. Apparently, it's not large enough for 250.

Residents of the Summerwood Addition in South Arlington met at their neighborhood Starbucks Monday night to discuss lease offers they've received from Cheaha Land Services, which is signing up leases in Arlington on behalf of Carrizo Oil & Gas. Brian Smith (bskipsmith@sbcglobal.net), one of the organizers, says he got there early and began talking to some other property owners who had already shown up. Ten minutes later, he says, "the sidewalk was packed. There were probably 100 people there."

More people kept arriving, and Smith and his fellow organizers spent 45 minutes collecting names and email addresses, because the neighborhood has no organized association. By the time the group moved to a property owner's home for discussion, there were 250 people, Smith said. Smith says the Starbucks manager approached him Thursday morning when he came in for a cup. "Next time you have one of those meetings, let me know, because we were a little shorthanded," Smith says the manager told him.

The good thing: Summerwood now has the makings of a neighborhood association. "We talked about what we're going to do next," Smith said.

Summerwood is also linking up with Colonial Estates, an adjacent neighborhood that also has no association, and is being offered the same terms by Cheaha/Carrizo. The drill site, between Green Oaks and Sublett Road west of Matlock Road, is the same for the two neighborhoods, Smith said.

The two neighborhoods are forming a group that plans to visit with an attorney as early as this weekend, Smith said. The idea would be to split the cost of the lawyer among the homeowners.

Tuesday night, Smith says a group of about 150 people from Summerwood -- and three representatives from Colonial Estates -- went to a lease meeting held by Cheaha. "We went as a group to see if we could talk to them as a group, and to let them know we had intentions to approach them as a group," Smith said. "They weren't set up to do that."

He said a "few" homeowners signed their leases at the meeting.

-- Scott

Fielder Park area gets some competition

Bernetta Glasser, head of the Fielder Park Gas Lease Negotiation Group in central Arlington, reports that Chesapeake Energy has commenced leasing efforts in the area, boosting lease offers.

Carrizo Oil & Gas, which has the University of Texas at Arlington gas lease, and its agent, Cheaha Land Services, started working the central Arlington region, including Briarwood Estates, in July.

The initial offer: bonus of $1,200 an acre and royalty 23 percent. The group got that up to $4,000 and 23 percent and continued talks. Now Carrizo has boosted the deal to $5,000 and 25 percent, Glasser said, to match an offer from Chesapeake and its agent, Western Production Co.

She's been impressed by Western's willingness to actually refer landowners to her group, which is up to 177 properties, including some commercial holdings. Glasser said the Fielder Park Gas group, which includes the area north of Park Row and west of Fielder, attended a meeting Sunday of the Heart of Arlington Neighborhood Association, which is working to bring together various groups into a common bargaining unit. Talks are continuing. Glasser can be reached at briarwoodestatesarlington@yahoo.com.

-- Jim

(photos: Fourth of July celebration and football practice, Fielder Park)