All things pertaining to the Marcellus & Utica Shale

current lease bonus amounts?

Anyone recently leased land in Bradford County? Especially in the Franklin area? We have 120 acres in Franklindale with a lease that ran out over a year ago. the best offer we have had is from Chesapeake for $500/acre. Personally I feel this is an insult....our neighbors say they got 1500 last year and they both have very small properties, no chance of a well being put on their land. Our land would probably almost certainly have a well put on it eventually.

according to chesapeake, they have three wells going in within 4000 feet of our property and that they are setting up the units so that we will be an island of unleased land in the center of their wells. Are we totally screwed? I am guessing it would not be worth it for us to contact other leasing companies as Chesapeake holds almost all the leases around here.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Matthew Santiago on July 28, 2011 at 10:27am

Rob you need to have google earth downloaded to open this file.

Permalink Reply by Matthew Santiago on July 28, 2011 at 10:28am

You will find that google earth file very interesting.

Permalink Reply by Rob Thompson on July 28, 2011 at 11:53am

wow! that was worth the dowload!! I thought I all ready had google earth on this computer, but evidently not.

we can see our property clearly ... we are due east of the barclay chk well and south west of the harris, chief well....there are no other units showing in our area right now. do you know how up to date this map is?

Permalink Reply by Matthew Santiago on July 28, 2011 at 5:22pm

I don't know how up to date this map is. I have seen some very recent things on the map (i.e. within the last month) but I also know some of the units have either been cancelled or moved and they are still showing on here. Its really anybody's guess.

Permalink Reply by Wayne Miller on August 25, 2011 at 10:06am

I update this map every week. However, I can only enter the unit after the gas company has recorded it at the courthouse. CHK has stated that they typically establish the unit 6 months after gas starts flowing to market, UNLESS you're lease is about to expire. In one case I saw they filed the unit as soon as they started clearing the pad. Sometimes the unit has been recorded several months after the well has been drilled, but the effective date is the date of completion not the date of filing.

I can also post the actual map of any specific unit you're interested in.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31036030/Way%20North%20unit.pdf is an interesting example of what they can do. The cross hatched area is a landowner who is not leased.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31036030/Behrend-Ross%20unit.pdf is a Southwestern unit showing four non-contiguous areas in one unit.

Also, don't give up on talking with other gas companies about leasing land. Many of these units include leases of several companies. They just establish an AMI (area of mutual interest) and divide the royalies according to their percentage of acreage in the unit. They also sell and trade these included acres to each other.

Permalink Reply by Rob Thompson on December 20, 2011 at 3:12pm

very interesting map....wish i understood something...how can they have these units with big holes in them and say they arent getting gas from some of this unleased land? right near us is a prime example;

Mel unit

CHK 415.946011 acres
Instrument#201127244
Recorded Nov 3, 2011
Effective Aug 22, 2011

there are two units, side by side....with this odd shaped hole in the middle....how can they possibly drill and miss this person's land? How can people who are like us, unleased protect ourselves from them getting free gas from our land? it seems grossly unfair.

Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on January 2, 2012 at 10:14am

There was a time, not all that long ago, when I would have agreed with your opinion on this.

Recent revelations mitigate against your thinking, however. To wit:

Apparently, in many instances, Bradford County shales are extremely tight. Frac radii are not coming in as anticipated in many locations.

Thus, if they stand back a respectful distance from your land, they might not be harvesting all that much of your gas . . . not as much as I would have thought only a year ago.

Exception. Free gas:

Shale tightness does not count when it comes to free gas. The fissures and fractures in your shale are full of NG at maximum pressure. If they intercept those fissures and fractures as they extend beyond your property line, they will be able to access your free gas without difficulty. This might amount to 3%-5% or your gas . . . I don't really know the percentage. But it's a small percentage. Most of your NG is trapped within your shale and is not free. Your shale must be fracked in order to release that gas. But if there is extensive drilling all around you, you can kiss a fair amount of your free gas good-bye.

To be honest, this is an especially poor time to be unleased. The price of NG is falling like a rock so companies are not really looking to lease new land. The bubble has burst. I'm sorry you find yourself in this situation. And, IMO, things will become much worse before they get better.