Antero Pays Record Rates in Eastern Ohio Utica Lease Deal

The Utica Landowner Group of eastern Ohio has just cut a deal with Antero Resources for what is believed to be the highest amount paid yet for a lease deal: $5,900 per acre for a signing bonus, and 21 percent royalties. The deal covers land in Belmont, Monroe and Noble counties in Ohio.

Denver-based Antero Resources will pay roughly $112 million to lease about 19,000 Ohio Utica Shale acres in Belmont, Monroe and Noble counties.

"I would never have imagined I would see rates like this being paid in eastern Ohio," said Ed Sustersic, a representative of the Utica Landowners Group, which organized the deal involving about 270 property owners. "We feel this is a good deal for the landowners."

A practicing Belmont County attorney, Sustersic is joined in the landowners group by fellow organizers Chuck Bell and Bruce Seabright. Sustersic said the final financial terms of $5,900 per acre with 21 percent on royalties are, to his knowledge, the highest yet paid in eastern Ohio.

In September, the Utica Landowners Group arranged the signing of 26,000 Belmont County acres to Exxon Mobil subsidiary XTO Energy at a price of $4,950 per acre with 19 percent royalties.*

*The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register (Feb 11, 2012) – Land Going For $112M