Ohio landowners should be aware of an important court case just decided that says, in essence, filing paperwork is enough proof of a driller’s intent that a lease can be extended beyond the initial signing period. Several landowners in Jefferson County, OH signed a lease with Fortuna Energy in 2006 that was later sold to Chesapeake Energy (in 2010). The lease was for a 5-year period. Three days before the end of the lease Chesapeake filed a Declaration of Pooled Unit (DPU) with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. That is, they told ODNR in essence “here’s a group of properties we intend to drill on soon” requesting permission to “pool” them together into a drilling unit. That simple act was enough proof, according to a U.S. District Court judge, to allow Chesapeake to extend the original lease beyond the original 5 years.
And so now the landowners are stuck waiting for Chesapeake to actually do something other than file paperwork. Good luck with that…
