Lease & Royalty Payments 45 - Marcellus Drilling News

Columbiana County, OH Landowners Seek Minimum Royalty Law

June 8, 2012June 8, 2012

A few weeks ago MDN highlighted a story about a couple living in Columbiana County, Ohio who were due to get more than $375,000 in lease payments from Chesapeake Energy for their 65 acres of property, but the deal fell through when Chesapeake discovered the land under the property was already locked into a decades-old lease by Columbia Gas Transmission. The couple is suing to be released from that contract (see this MDN story).

We have word today that other landowners from the same area also affected by the Columbia lease are trying a different tact: Pass a state law imposing minimum royalties.

Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA DCNR Wants Money for Drilling Under Public Streams/Rivers

June 4, 2012June 4, 2012

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR)—not to be confused with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)—has found a new and novel way of extracting money from natural gas drillers in the state. If drillers have horizontally drilled underneath a public stream or river, the DCNR is going to ask those drillers to pony up with lease and royalty payments to the DCNR’s coffers. This one is going to be a lawyer’s delight.

Columbiana County | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Statewide OH

The Value of Land for One Eastern Ohio Landowner

June 4, 2012June 4, 2012

How much are your lease rights worth? It all depends on where your land is located. Right now, eastern Ohio seems to be commanding the best lease and royalty deals. PBS station WVIZ in Cleveland aired a story yesterday about an 82 year-old woman, Jackie Pendleton, who lives by herself on 62 acres of land in Columbiana County, OH. The offers she’s received for both her mineral rights and the outright purchase of her entire property have made her head swim.

Lease & Royalty Payments | Statewide WV | West Virginia | Wetzel County

Royalty & Production Figures from WV Northern Panhandle

June 4, 2012June 4, 2012

An excellent article in Sunday’s The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register takes a look at production numbers for a sampling of natural gas and oil wells in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. Chock full of numbers, some of the gems include:

BP’s Big Plans for Ohio Utica Shale

June 1, 2012June 1, 2012

BP, which signed a leases with some 2,000 landowners representing 85,000 acres in Trumbull County (worth $331 million) just a few months ago, will start drilling early in 2013. But in the meantime, they want to sign up even more acreage in Ohio:

Brooke County WV Schools Get $661K in Lease Payments

May 29, 2012May 29, 2012

Brooke County Schools in West Virginia are eager to have Chesapeake Energy drill under school-owned property. But Ohio County Schools, also in WV, don’t want Chesapeake drilling near their schools. What’s the difference? One is getting a boatload of money in lease (and eventually royalty) payments. The other isn’t.

Columbiana County | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio

Some OH Landowners Get $5,800/Acre While Neighbors Get $4/Acre

May 23, 2012May 23, 2012

contract A cautionary story for landowners comes from Columbiana County, Ohio. Some landowners, like Patrick and Jill McNicol, own land encumbered by old gas leases going back fifty years they knew nothing about. What does it mean? They’ll get $4 per acre for their land (and no royalties), while their neighbors will get $5,800 per acres and 12-20 percent royalties.

Is there any recourse for the McNicols? Maybe.

Columbiana County Port Authority Leases Land to Chesapeake

May 23, 2012May 23, 2012

The Columbiana County (OH) Port Authority voted on Monday to lease 43.9 acres of its property in Beaver County, PA to Chesapeake Energy.

Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Sierra Buckeye | Statewide OH

Muskingum Watershed District Signs New Deal for Utica Drilling

May 21, 2012May 21, 2012

The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District has just signed a deal with Sierra Buckeye of Houston to allow Utica Shale drilling on 185 acres of District-controlled land—and it got some VERY favorable terms for the deal.

Carrizo Gets Utica Permit for Trumbull County, OH

May 18, 2012May 18, 2012

Carrizo Oil & Gas has just received a permit for drilling in the Utica Shale in Trumbull County, Ohio. But the company says it’s not going to start its exploratory drilling for the foreseeable future, at least in Trumbull because Trumbull has more restrictive road repair demands, so instead Carrizo will drill its first Utica exploratory well in neighboring Mercer County, PA where the demands on road repair are not as restrictive.

Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Trumbull County

Trumbull County, OH Landowners Receive Lease Checks

May 17, 2012May 17, 2012

pile of money Landowners in Trumbull County, Ohio—some 50 to 60 families—are now collectively $7 million richer since receiving their lease signing bonus checks. Including Richard and Ida Faber, who received a check yesterday for $701,580—almost $3,000 per acre.

CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Mahoning County | Ohio

CONSOL Starts Work on Their First Well in Mahoning County, OH

May 14, 2012May 14, 2012

CONSOL Energy has started work on its first drill pad in Mahoning County, OH. And although the landowner where they’re drilling sold his mineral rights years ago and will receive next to nothing in the way of royalties or lease payments, he’s still happy about it.

O&G Countersues Landowners Claiming Lease Slander

May 14, 2012May 14, 2012

In late March, seven Beaver County, PA families (18 people) filed a lawsuit in Common Pleas Court accusing O&G Investments of Wooster, Ohio of not drilling on their land—and not paying them—for the past seven years. The leases were sold to Chesapeake Energy and at the eleventh hour, just before the leases were set to expire, Chesapeake attempted to initiate drilling to retain the leases, which prompted the lawsuit (see this MDN story for background). Late last week O&G countersued the families:

eCORP International | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | New York | Tioga County (NY)

Tioga County, NY Lease Deal with eCORP Falls Apart

May 2, 2012May 2, 2012

It looks like it’s time to put away the champagne bottle and glasses that New Yorkers had brought out to toast a deal in Tioga County, NY that would use LPG (waterless) fracking and perhaps herald an early end to more than four years of a horizontal drilling moratorium.

In March, MDN reported on a deal announced between eCORP International and the Tioga County (NY) Landowners Group, also known as Southern Tier Energy Partners (STEP), to lease 135,000 acres in Tioga County with an eye to using LPG waterless fracking (see this MDN story). After the initial announcement, eCORP released another press statement outlining the deal that both sides had supposedly worked out, a somewhat complicated arrangement in which the approximately 2,000 landowners would be split into 13 independent operating companies and would become part-owners in those companies (see this MDN story).

Lease & Royalty Payments | Resources

Innovative New Way for Landowners to Attract Lease Offers

May 2, 2012May 2, 2012

ShaleNavigator is a web-based natural gas mapping system MDN has highlighted before (see this MDN story). The ShaleNavigator website allows users to display various “layers” of information on a map, including where wells have been permitted, who the driller is, where pipelines are located, and more. Users can zoom in or out and turn layers on or off. A cool service.

ShaleNavigator has just added an important new layer to their mapping system called the “Available Property” layer (see image below). This new layer shows properties from landowners that are available for lease, with the actual property boundaries. Here’s the neat thing: users can turn on the other layers, like recent permits, pipelines, etc. so those interested in leasing property for drilling, like drilling companies and landmen, can visually see the “context” of the offered property. Now that’s really cool.

Brooke County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | West Virginia

Brooke County School District Signs Lease with Chesapeake

May 2, 2012May 2, 2012

The Brooke County, WV Board of Education on Monday approved a lease deal with Chesapeake Energy that will allow natural gas drilling beneath school-owned property. The deal allows Chesapeake to drill under any of the school’s collective 189 acres, which is scattered throughout the county at different locations. The signing bonus is $3,500 per acre for each acre drilled, plus 18 percent royalties.