Shell contacted us in April 2012 with an offer to lease our 10 acres in mercer twp for $3200/acre. We hired an attorney, he fine tuned the lease and when we were ready to sign shell said their leasing was on hold. Early Aug. the attorney (whose name im probably not allowed to metion) said shell had resumed leasing and sent us a lease to sign, never pointing out that it was for $2500/acre! We are currently on hold, but don't want to end up with nothing, but also don't want to be played for a sucker. Has anyone else experienced similar situations with an attorney or shell?

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Just shell playing their games - a way to get out of lease.  Happened here and will continue to do so as bsing lie after lie they tell not to pay up on lease since they are not leasing in area.  At least the landman responded to you.  Chances are your attorney may have done what was asked of him (well who knows with attorneys as they are corrupt and part of the problem with just about everything today).  May just be shell trying to cover their butts so not to look even worse.  Typical at this point.

 

Hello, Everyone.

 

Thank you for all of the good and helpful information. My grandparents have recently begun to receive offers (well, expressions of interest) to purchase their mineral rights (35 acres in Clinton Township), and, of course, they decided to contact their attorney grandson—me. Unfortunately, I am solely licensed in Ohio, and I am not familiar with the “market” and/or the “players” in Butler County. Nevertheless, I hate to disappoint, so I was wondering if someone would be so kind as to answer a few questions. Right off the bat, I have advised them not to sell, but to lease their minerals. From reading all of your posts, it seems that Shell and Rex are the most prevalent O&G companies in the area, and that lease prices are hovering between $2500-$3500, is this accurate?

Lastly, if anyone has a name/number/email address for an active landman, it would be much appreciated.

Thank you for your help!

Fred,

Definitely lease, not sell. I think XTO is the company most active in Clinton Township, they are owned by Exxon Mobile.  Shell's area is northern Butler County.  $2500 - $3500 was accurate a year ago, but its probably lower now. Most companies have shifted their interest to Ohio chasing Utica oil & wet gas. I don't have contact info for an XTO landman, but you can try their corporate headquarters. Hopefully, someone here can provide a landman contact for you, if not, try this:

http://www.butlercountychamber.com/dir/Business-Directory/Energy-Se...

http://www.xtoenergy.com/en/contact.html

Fred,

It is possible to see if neighbors of your grandparents have leased, when, and with who. Butler County has an online deed search site and parcel viewer site. Using these 2 sites provides  valuable information useful in dealing with these O&G companies.

You can view a memorandum of lease on the deed site which discloses some terms of the lease, but not the bonus amount. I am very familiar with using these sites, and could help with doing some research if you like. I sent a friend request if you would like to communicate privately.  

http://www.co.butler.pa.us/recorder/

http://www.co.butler.pa.us/butler/cwp/view.asp?a=1494&q=616990&;

Oliver,

 

Thank you for all of the helpful information. I will certainly heed your advice. I was on the Butler Recorder's website yesterday, and I was impressed with the breadth of records available. Ohio Recorders' online services are hit or miss. I also dabbled in some of the tools available on PADEP. I do not see a lot of action in my grandparents area--a handful of unconventional wells, but not much. I do find it encouraging that companies are expressing interest in purchasing mineral rights. Hopefully they are the big guys with different hats on.

Anybody heard anything new lately?

Huntley and Huntley (out of Monroeville PA) had leased quite a bit of land in Clinton Twp back in 2008. In late 2011, they assigned a portion of their interest in at least some of the leases to Range Resources. Huntley and Huntley was still actively leasing in Clinton last year.

Depending on where there property is located, you may want to refer to XTO which is very active in the area. Penn Energy Resources has also leased land recently.

I'd take a look and see who the neighboring properties have leased with and go from there. You can do that online.

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