Some Brinker Field (OH) Leases Revised, Others in Lawsuit
Hilcorp Energy was hired by Columbia Gas’ parent company NiSouce to drill Utica Shale wells in the Brinker Storage Field, a 35,000 acre area in Columbiana County, Ohio that Columbia has used to store natural gas going back more than 50 years. The original leases with landowners in the Brinker, leases passed down to new landowners over the decades, mean that landowners get zippo from any drilling—no lease payments and no royalties (see this MDN story for background).
Since the MDN story that first appeared in September, about 100 landowners have signed on to a lawsuit against Columbia and Hilcorp over the lease issue. But also since September, Columbia and Hilcorp have cut new leases with landowners not party to the lawsuit. We get the details of the lease terms from a story that talks about Hilcorp setting up a new office in Columbiana to work on land deals:
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An important court case has ruled in favor of landowners against energy companies in New York State. Last Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd ruled against Chesapeake Energy and Inflection Energy (and in favor of landowners) in a case where the companies had tried to extend leases beyond the original term by invoking “force majeure,” a legal phrase that means the terms of the lease could not be carried out due to extenuating circumstances.
At the Developing Unconventional Gas (DUG) East Conference in Pittsburgh yesterday, EnerVest CEO John Walker contradicted the view of Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon. McClendon said the Ohio Utica Shale will not produce much oil—at least for Chesapeake (