Barnett Shale

Keller group agrees to $20,000 from XTO

The Hidden Lakes neighborhood group in Keller has agreed to a lease offered by Colt Exploration on behalf of XTO Energy.

Terms of the deal:

• $20,000 bonus per acre
• 25 percent royalty, with only non-affiliated 3rd-party expenses deducted
• 3-year primary term with an option for another 2 years with another $20,000 per-acre bonus

Any other interested HOAs or landowners near Hidden Lakes can e-mail Deborah Gatzke, the group's secretary, at deb@hlhoa.com

The size of Hidden Lakes is about 1,800 homeowners on 700 acres, Gatzke said. The entire coalition, which includes homeowners associations and other landowners surrounding Hidden Lakes, is about 1,400 acres.

For purposes of reaching the neighborhood, XTO has a drillsite just west of Davis Boulevard, close to where Precinct Line Road meets Davis.

"There are two other 'soon-to-be-declared' drillsites that will serve Hidden Lakes and the surrounding communities," the committee said in a memo to property owners. "We will report their exact locations when they are finalized, which is expected very soon.  One drillsite is predicted to be near Hidden Lakes, but assurances are that it will be 'at least 600 feet' from the nearest home."

Here's the Hidden Lakes website.

Here's what we've said about this group before.

--David Wethe

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

XTO meets with CAMRA and others in NE Tarrant

The Colleyville Area Mineral Rights Association held its long-awaited meeting earlier this week with officials from XTO Energy and its land company, Colt Exploration.

Grady Walker described the meeting as more informational than that of a sales pitch. XTO is currently sitting with the highest offer to many northeast Tarrant County neighborhoods, with an $18,500 bonus offer, a 25 percent royalty and a three-year primary and two-year secondary term. Dale Resources, on behalf of Chesapeake Energy, had previously made an offer for $17,000 an acre, with all of the other terms being the same as XTO's offer.

Walker's group invited representatives from about six of the largest neighborhood groups to XTO's meeting. They included:

• Continental Park Estates, in Southlake
• Pool Road Coalition, in Colleyville
• Hidden Lakes, in Keller
• D/FW West, in Grapevine and Euless
• Southlake Park Oil and Gas Group
• North Keller Neighbors Together, in Keller, Westlake and Southlake
• White Chapel Corridor, in Southlake

There were about 60 people at the meeting, a little more than the number of people who showed up a couple weeks earlier to Dale's presentation at the Southlake Hilton Hotel.

"Now comes the hard part," Walker wrote in a release issued today. "We need to work with these companies to get behind the presentations, lofty words and 'contract examples' to see what specifically they are willing to offer CAMRA members in terms of financial and other contractual commitments."

Walker said after the two-hour meeting, that XTO and Chesapeake are now both considered "excellent companies." He said he now expects "a lot of activity over the next several weeks."

--David Wethe

DFW West (Grapevine) gets lease deal with XTO

The DFW West Homeowners group in Grapevine reports it has accepted a lease deal with XTO Energy and its representative, Colt Exploration.

The terms: $18,500 signing bonus, four-year primary lease term, one-year extension option for $11,500 per acre, and a 25 percent royalty. The drill site would be north of Highway 26, Kevin Rhodes, one of DFW West's organizers, told homeowners in an email message.

"We will notify you as soon as the final lease is negotiated," Rhodes says in the email. "We anticipate having multiple lease signing meetings and possibly mailings for those who cannot make it to the meetings."

Click here to visit DFW West's web site.

-- Scott Nishimura

Keller neighborhood wants in on Colleyville's action

As the competition between drilling companies invades the quiet burbs of Northeast Tarrant County, there are some in that area hoping to get a piece of the hot action.

A new group, known simply as the Hidden Lakes Gas Committee, has formed to represent the interests of 1,735 homeowners in the Hidden Lakes subdivision of Keller. Hidden Lakes is a new community of about 10 villages all built around the Sky Creek Ranch Golf Course.

Over the weekend, several homeowners reported getting a new offer from Colt Exploration, representing XTO Energy, for a per-acre bonus of $10,000 and royalties of 25 percent, said Deb Gatzke, secretary of the Hidden Lakes Gas Committee.

According to the group's website, it's the same offer that Sky Creek Ranch Golf course signed in late March. It was a 4-year deal. "XTO's drillsite is 14.3 acres west of Davis, just across from where Precinct Line meets Davis," according to the site.

The $10,000 bonus is higher than XTO's earlier offer of $6,500 an acre to Hidden Lakes residents, but it's still not at the $18,500 level that was offered last week to the CAMRA, Pool Road Coalition and West Colleyville Gas groups in nearby Colleyville.

Hidden Lakes bumps up to CAMRA's western edge. Gatzke, who attended a CAMRA leadership meeting last night, said she would like to get her group in with CAMRA but may not be able to do that right now.

"I doubt they're gonna grow far enough west to include us," she said.

The boundaries of Hidden Lakes are roughly Shady Grove Road on the south, Keller Smithfield Road on the west, 1709 on the north and Davis Boulevard on the east.

Here's a link to the group's website.

If you want to join the Hidden Lakes group, you can send an e-mail to gaslease@hlhoa.com.

--David Wethe

(Archive photo: Sky Creek Ranch Golf Course)

Bidding war in Colleyville?

It seems we've now got the makings of a bidding war cranking up in parts of Colleyville and perhaps elsewhere in Northeast Tarrant County.

The benefactor so far is the Colleyville Area Mineral Rights Association (web site), with perhaps others to come.

On Wednesday afternoon, two high-ranking officials from XTO Energy and its leasing agent Colt Exploration made a verbal offer of an $18,500-per-acre bonus that would serve as a "place holder" to give the Fort Worth-based drilling company and its land company more time to come back next week with a more serious offer, said Grady Walker, spokesman for the CAMRA.

Walker said he wouldn't call it a bidding war yet, but it could head that way.

"They said, 'Understand this is our backyard, we will be and want to be a serious player,'" Walker said. XTO and Colt officials plan to meet with leaders of CAMRA sometime next week to negotiate in serious detail a new lease offer.

Walker said he received "a very clear message" XTO: "We're not interested in single pieces of property. We want all of CAMRA."

Up next: Colt officials plan to meet with the Pool Road Coalition (web site). Michael Muhm, spokesman for that group, said he's expecting a similar offer to be made to his group this evening. The last offer from XTO to the Pool Road group is $12,500, Muhm said.

The latest offer from XTO came less than 24 hours after Dale Resources made a huge pitch to grab about 5,000 acres of natural gas rights in most of Colleyville, Southlake and parts of North Richland Hills and Keller. That offer included a $17,000-per-acre bonus. To read more about that, click here.

Update, 5:35 p.m.: As expected, the Pool Road Coalition put out a press release in the last 15 minutes saying that it has received the same offer from Colt that CAMRA received: a bonus of $18,500 per acre.

The Pool Road folks stress that they are not endorsing either offer right now, but want to closely study both of them.

Keep checking back with us as we learn more about the XTO offer spreading through other neighborhoods.

--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 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)

Competition in Colleyville?

Colleyville's Ross Downs Homeowner Association -- west of Pool Road, north of Hall-Johnson, and east of Texas 26 -- reports lease inquiries from both Dale Resources and Colt Exploration (on behalf of XTO Energy) have been popping up in mailboxes in the last several days.

Dale is distributing letters saying it will send out lease offers soon, saod Michael Muhm, president of the Ross Downs HOA, a mandatory association of 320 homes. Colt/XTO has sent out full lease packets offering a $7,000 per-acre signing bonus and 25 percent royalty, he said. Click here to visit the homeowner association's web site.

The Ross Downs Association (rossdowns@acclaimmgmt.com) has scheduled a homeowner meeting, 7 p.m.-9 p.m. Thursday Feb. 28 at the Colleyville Center, 5301 Riverwalk Drive.

The Ross Downs offers are the latest neighborhood offers in Colleyville, but the first reported to the S-T involving competition between gas companies. Click here to read our previous posts on Colleyville lease offers. Neighborhoods on John McCain Road west of Texas 26 and the Longwood Estates @ Ross Downs subdivision next to the Ross Downs HOA have reported offers or inquiries. Colt/XTO are offering to sign leases in the John McCain area, and Dale is offering to sign leases in the Longwood Estates @ Ross Downs subdivision. Dale has worked on behalf of Chesapeake Energy in Tarrant County leasing, although Colleyville homeowners say its letters to those neighborhoods don't identify Chesapeake.

Muhm said his HOA will probably contact other area associations to determine whether it makes sense to try and link up on a gas lease negotiation. That will include Highland Meadows, which is next door to Ross Downs but may not yet have received offers, he said. To the east of Pool Road and north of Hall-Johnson, neighboring Grapevine has been receiving lease offers.

"This is like a brush fire," he said. His association board as recently as January was discussing "Maybe, What If?" scenarios on gas leases and was thinking of bringing up the issue again for a vigorous talk in in April.

Unlike many neighborhoods where gas lease bonus payments can amount to several mortgage payments, the Colleyville homeowners are likely to view the windfall in different ways, Muhm acknowledged.

Muhm said the largest lots in Ross Downs are about half an acre, and move down to a quarter-acre. His neighborhood is wealthy and homeowners like himself -- Muhm owns a recognition and signage company -- aren't unusual.

"Maybe you put (the money) in the kid's college fund, maybe you take a trip," Muhm said. "It's not life-changing, it's not grocery money, it's not going to make the mortgage payments."

-- Scott Nishimura

Click here to read Colleyville's gas drilling ordinance.

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

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

(Photos: Colleyville Public Library, Highland Meadows church program)