Barnett Shale

The last shoe drops: Titan terminates BC-MRC deal

Three days after suspending leasing with the Bedford-Colleyville Mineral Rights Coalition, Titan Resources on Wednesday told the big group that "all our efforts to lease mineral interests of members of BC-MRC are now terminated." Titan said it will not accept any new leases but is honoring drafts issued through Oct. 18. "It is our hope that new opportunities will occur for leasing activities in the future, and we appreciate all of the mineral owners in the BC-MRC," Titan said in an announcement sent the homeowners group. The group posted on its Web site a statement that it is "extremely disappointed and strong disagrees with this unilateral decision by Titan. It plans to consider all options at its disposal to seek to enforce the agreement which Titan has now repudiated, as should all individual members." The group estimates that Titan signed leases with 15 percent of its members, "but needs far more acreage within BC-MRC boundaries to form effective drilling units." It urged members to remain united and "not feel pressured to accept something less than what has already been offered and accepted just because of claims that competitive conditions have subsequently changed."

-- Jim Fuquay

Colleyville residents fault council for approving gas deal

A familiar site at local City Council meetings — angry residents rebuking council members over a natural gas drilling issue — took on a new twist in Colleyville Tuesday night.

More than 50 residents urged the council to postpone a vote on leasing the city’s mineral rights with Fort Worth-based Titan Operating because the company had abruptly suspended signing leases with residents the day before. Residents wanted the council to pressure Titan to resume leasing activity with a local homeowners group before agreeing to vote on the measure.

After a tense two hours, the council voted 5-1 to approve the deal.

Mayor David Kelly and the council could not ignore the offer before the city — a $25,000-an-acre bonus and 25.5 percent royalty, giving the city a $7 million bonus for its 280 acres. Titan also agreed to donate $200,000 to the city’s parks department.

There was also a legal quandary. City Attorney Matthew Boyle advised the council that they could face criminal prosecution if they chose not to approve a measure that would benefit the city financially in order to help residents involved in private financial matters.

“I enjoy serving you but I’m not going to jail for you,” Councilman Tony Licata told the packed council chamber.

Councilman Tony Hart, the lone opposing vote on the measure, echoed citizens’ comments when he said that the deal wasn’t necessarily the best the city could get because the natural gas market could rebound in the future.

“The only thing we’d be losing out on is possibly a couple of million dollars,” Hart said. “I’m willing to roll the dice on this personally.”

Residents said they would not forget how council members voted on the issue, with a handful of people discussing a recall campaign.

-Aman Batheja

Bedford-Colleyville-Grapevine deal with Titan suspended

Titan Operating today informed Bedford-Colleyville Mineral Rights Coalition that it plans to re-examine its
leasing strategy given the recent turmoil in world economic markets, the homeowner group reports. "Therefore, effective immediately, all signing sessions previously scheduled by BC-MRC have been suspended," B-C MRC said in an email to members. According to the email, "Titan has indicated that it will honor all executed lease agreements for which a bank draft has already been issued, including those signed Saturday, Oct. 18 at a scheduled signing session in Euless. According to Titan, it plans to suspend leasing on a temporary basis pending an executive management meeting and possible discussions with its financial partner(s).  Titan has indicated they will communicate the results of their
discussions to BC-MRC at the conclusion of its review process." 

Titan follows similar moves by Chesapeake Energy, Vantage Energy and XTO Energy in the past week as producers struggle with both falling natural gas prices and a tight credit market. Titan is backed by Riverstone Holdings, a private equity group that also has a stake in Vantage Energy.

-- Jim Fuquay

Bedford-Colleyville-Grapevine group endorses Titan/Caffey offer

Bedford Colleyville Mineral Rights Coalition says it is recommending a mineral rights lease from Titan Operating and its land company, Caffey Group, for close to 10,000 property owners in the group's approximately 5,000 acres in Northeast Tarrant County. The group says it represents at least 80 percent of the land in its boundaries, generally Colleyville Boulevard/Brown Trail to the west, Hall-Johnson to the north, Texas 121 to the east and Harwood Road to the south. The three-year lease pays a bonus of $25,000 an acre and a royalty of 25.5 percent cost-free, and also includes environmental provisions that call for compressor stations to be completely housed. In an e-mail to members, organizers said.

It's only the most recent win for Titan, a new group formed by executives with experience at other large Barnett Shale producers. The group, with Caffey, also has won backing from big homeowner groups in southwest Arlington. Information and signing meetings will be publicized on the group's web site at http://www.bc-mrc.org.

-- Jim Fuquay

More Southlake rivalry between Chesapeake and XTO

Just when you thought the competition between Chesapeake Energy and XTO Energy couldn't get any hotter, it takes a new turn.

This time it's in Southlake and involves the Carroll Independent School District.

Fort Worth-based XTO has donated $50,000 to the Carroll Education Foundation, according to our education reporter Jessamy Brown. And it's the largest donation in the history of the 12-year-old organization, Brown discovered.

To make things more interesting, XTO rival Chesapeake has the lease to drill for natural gas under all 402 acres owned by the Carroll school district.

The foundation is a non-profit set up to raise money and donate it to the Carroll school district when needed.

The donation, which was made earlier this week without any fanfair, will make XTO the "presenting sponsor" of the foundation's annual fundraiser later this year, called the Culinary Celebration.

"We have never been gifted this much," Kacy Hankins, the foundation's executive director, told Brown today. "It was not solicited."

For further background, keep in mind that Chesapeake recently announced that it would donate $1 million to the United Way to establish the Barnett Shale Endowment Fund. That same day, the YMCA rushed out a press release saying that XTO was donating $500,000 to help modernize and expand its workout space.

And for one more layer of intrigue, both companies are heavily competing for the hearts and minds of property owners in Southlake and Colleyville and elsewhere in Northeast Tarrant County. Chesapeake, through its land representative Dale Resources, offered thousands of property owners in Northeast Tarrant a bonus of $17,000. XTO, through its rep Colt Exploration, quickly topped that with an offer for $18,500 per acre.

--David Wethe

Dale goes after leases in NE Tarrant County

  Here's the full story from S-T staffer David Wethe on Dale Resources' pitch to neighborhood groups in Colleyville, Southlake, North Richland Hills, and Keller for leases. The offer could apply broadly to people in Colleyville and Southlake. Don't have a lease offer from Dale? Read this story to find out more on what you can do to find out if you're eligible.

Here's S-T staffer Adrienne Nettles' story from earlier this week on the Southlake City Council's consideration of changes that would allow drilling closer to homes.

Pictured is a map of drill sites that Dale Resources says Chesapeake has secured in the affected Northeast Tarrant County area. Dale reps handed the map out to neighborhood leaders at a meeting Tuesday night.

-- Scott Nishimura

Dale makes broad pitch for $17,000 in NE Tarrant

Dale Resources made an unusual and far-flung pitch last night to lease mineral rights for about 5,000 acres in Northeast Tarrant County.

The offer is for a bonus of $17,000 an acre and a 25 percent royalty. The lease term is for three years and an option for a two-year renewal.

The offer was made to a packed room full of about 40 community leaders from Colleyville, Southlake, and parts of North Richland Hills and Keller. As neighborhood group leaders and HOA presidents spilled out of the small conference room at the Southlake Hilton after the meeting, at least one expressed intrigue and possible interest in the offer.

Michael Muhm, leader of the Pool Road Coalition, called the offer "very interesting." He said XTO Energy has a competing offer out to property owners in his group's area for a bonus of roughly $12,500 an acre. But he said his group is looking at not only the best dollar amount but who would also be the best drilling company for property owners to partner with, and he said Chesapeake is looking strong.

Dale has also proposed 11 signing dates throughout the month of May in Colleyville.

Dale officials said the offer is good for anyone living in a large swath of northeast Tarrant, mainly southwest of 114. But the land company also did say that if there was not enough people that started signing, the offer could go down. A deadline date was not given for how long the offer would be good for.

Among the affected areas are the upscale, 1,100-acre Timarron community in Southlake, the Pool Road Coalition and the Colleyville Area Mineral Rights Association.

Stay tuned to this space for more updates, and to the S-T print edition Thursday for a full story. We're trying to get a handle on who was in the room Tuesday night, and how broad the area is that we're talking about.

If you were in the room and you have a perspective, we'd love to hear it. Just drop us an email at dwethe@star-telegram.com or call us!

-- David Wethe

(Photo: Southlake trolley)

Colleyville/Grapevine group forms

We've got another nifty new name for a neighborhood gas lease coalition. This one, a group of several homeowner associations in Northeast Colleyville and Southwest Grapevine, is going by the name Pool Road Coalition.

The PRC has more than 900 residents and 450 acres, and is bounded by Pool Road on the east, Hall Johnson Road on the south, and Texas 26/Colleyville Boulevard on the west, said Michael Muhm, one of the organizers. Participating homeowner associations include Carriage Glen, Heritage Colony, Highland Meadows, Longwood, and Ross Downs Estates. All are in Colleyville except Heritage Colony, which is just east of Pool Road in Grapevine.

The group has competition for its leases. Dale Resources, on behalf of Chesapeake Energy, has offered an $11,400 lease bonus, 25 percent royalty with no deductions for transportation and production, three-year primary term, and two-year option. "It's a lessor-friendly lease," Muhm says.

XTO Energy is offering an $7,000 lease bonus, 25 percent royalty with deductions for costs, and a five-year term. "It's a typical lease, but we're expecting to get an update from them this week," Muhm said.

Chesapeake is telling the neighborhood its drill sites would be at Pool Road and Texas 26 behind a drug store, and at the northwest corner of Texas 26 and John McCain Road. Muhm said XTO hasn't told  his group where its drill sites would be. "If you're going to drill over here, we want to know where you're going to drill," Muhm said.

Click here to visit the group's web site. To contact the group, send them an email at mike@rpsw.biz

-- Scott Nishimura

New Colleyville group emerges

A group of seven homeowners associations,a church and about 50 individual homeowners all in Colleyville, have banded together to try and lease their mineral rights.

They're calling their group the Colleyville Area Mineral Rights Association.  It includes:

• Oak Brook Hills
• Monticello
• Pebble Hill
• Shalimar
• Warwick Park
• Western Trails
• Williamsburg Estates (See our previous blog post)
• Crown of Life Lutheran Church

Grady Walker, a spokesperson for CAMRA, said the group includes about 1,000 acres, some of which spill over into Southlake as well. Dale Resources and Petrocasa Energy have a total about six well sites that would touch the homes within CAMRA, Walker said.

The group's rough boundaries go from Continental Boulevard on the north to Tinker Road on the south, and the intersection of Highway 26 at John McCain Road on the east to Davis Boulevard in Keller in the west. The boundaries take in the Williamsburg Estates neighborhoods along John McCain that we've previously blogged on.

Some individual homeowners signed offers last year, Walker said, but he's hoping to add to the group's size. There are about three other homeowners associations that could join the group, he said.

-- David Wethe

(Photo: School play at Crown of Life)

Colleyville homeowners organize

Colleyville homeowners along John McCain Road west of Texas 26 are organizing and have called a meeting for 7 p.m.-9 p.m. March 4 at the Colleyville Center, 5301 Riverwalk Drive.

The Williamsburg Estates and Ann's Oaks neighborhoods have already held one meeting. They have offers from both XTO Energy and Chesapeake Energy. XTO is offering a $6,500 per-acre signing bonus and 25 percent royalty. Chesapeake is offering a $4,000 per-acre bonus and 25 percent royalty, said Ann Hardy, one of the neighborhood organizers.

At the upcoming meeting, a representative from Colt Exploration, which is signing leases for XTO, "will answer questions and then be dismissed" so the neighborhood reps can discuss what to do next, Hardy said.

Hardy's group is still trying to figure out who it makes sense to link up with, as homeowners in the area continue to receive lease offers. "Maybe we'll call ourselves the Colleyville Coalition," she says. To contact Hardy, click here.

Caldwell's Creek, a neighborhood south of John McCain, reports a fresh lease offer from XTO for a $7,000 per-acre bonus and 25 percent royalty.

East of Texas 26, homeowners in Colleyville's Ross Downs and Longwood Estates @ Ross Downs neighborhoods east of Texas 26 report receiving lease offers. Click here to read our previous posts on Colleyville leasing.

-- Scott Nishimura

Having a meeting on the Barnett Shale? Click here to publicize it on our Community Calendar!

Is your neighborhood receiving lease offers? Click here to tell us about it!

(Photo: Father-daughter dance at Colleyville Center)