Why is everyone so afraid?

This is a decent site, I suspect it's monitored by the majors.  The undertone of the posts seems to be fear, imo.  You have a reason to be afraid as you are in a position where information is asymmetric.  They have it, you don't.  You know you're bringing a knife to a gun fight.  John Meynard Keynes said " in the long run, we're all dead".  Unwillingness to compromise or negotiate is the last resort of the ignorant.  No one gets the top price in the stock market, don't expect it in O&G.  Life isn't fair, cut your own deal and move on.  Anyone who tries to extrapolate recent deals is a fool.  You can't know all the variables.  Have I left out any cliches?

   

Views: 5635

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by JMS on February 26, 2012 at 5:08pm

I absolutely agree with you Mark...I feel a sense of community here.  And...have received help from very unselfish individuals who have given alot of time helping those of us who are less knowledgeable.

It is outrage...we know who's going to come out on the short end of this stick, one way or the other... we just want our fair share of deal...and it takes alot of strategizing to try to out-maneuver the majors.  Problem is they have $$$$$ on their side to begin with, and that leaves us searching for some kind of leverage.  Only by strategizing with the folks on this site do any of us have the slightest chance of coming out on top.

Permalink Reply by craig on February 11, 2012 at 7:43pm

Jim,   in saying "unwillingness to compromise or negotiate is the last resort of the ignorant", you do realize you just described the gas co's just about perfectly as well as a small percentage of landowners. Early on the landowners were compromising and didn't even know it.  I've done 3 leases, learned each time, and finally got most of what I wanted on the last one. You must stand your ground to a point that negotiations will happen. Of course if you are being completely unreasonable, then that is another story. 

What really makes me and others upset with the gas companies is the fact that we  have the product they have the knowhow and machinery. This should be a partnership and we should treat each other as such. I've not seen that from the gas co's from what I see. Yes there are folks happy with the companies, but there are lots that aren't as well. CHK has brought this upon themselves in most instances. Period. IF they had a PR dept that was effective and communicated properly with the landowners when it comes time to drill it would be a miracle.

This is constructive criticism from 4+ yrs of dealing with them in one way or another, and should be taken as such.

As I always say, watch what they do, not what they say.

Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on February 11, 2012 at 8:49pm

mark and craig well said

Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on February 12, 2012 at 4:08am

Mark in more ways than that, they need landowners as a first line of defense to debunk the fear mongering of the anti frackers as landowners prove to be a weak link to the image of the big bad  O&G industry. 

Permalink Reply by Deborah Kittner Johnson on February 12, 2012 at 11:26am

Mark, others - I plan to test a similar idea to your comment about having a strong PR department during field work in April. You may be familiar with the concept 'sustainability reporting' - triple-bottom-line accounting - financial, environmental, and social accounting - corporate social responsibility (CSR). I have surveyed dozens of O & G business' websites to see who monitors, manages, and reports their social and environmental activities and outcomes, and who does not. I would like to see if I can 'map' this practice on the ground by speaking with locals or even monitoring conversations in blogs such as this. Or, does it not 'matter?' Few companies report yet, but I would guess - hypothesize - as you, that it would be in a company's best 'financial' interest to invest in sustainability reporting. Share the wealth with the community in which they work. I follow the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) protocol that is based in Amsterdam, NE. Comments? Anyone?

Permalink Reply by Carol Kuniholm on February 26, 2012 at 2:41pm

This is exactly what we need - and what's been missing - and I for one would be very interested in what you find.

I know that investors around the globe are most interested in finding projects that are addressing environmental and social sustainability, for obvious reasons. Industries that try to take advantage of resources without fairly compensating the people impacted, and without addressing the environmental impacts, eventually get shut down or face such public outcry the project becomes too dangerous to continue. Monsanto got nailed in India -and for good reason. Bechtel lost millions in the Bolivia Water Wars. 

Somehow the big O & G companies still believe they can make the rules and we'll all just smile and go along. And our politicians (at least here in PA) think they can let that happen, and no one will notice. Those days are over - 

I would love to see the companies that are acting responsibly rewarded. And I'd like to see the companies that are not acting responsibly shut down, or at least denied drilling permits in the states where they accumulate multiple violations.

All stakeholders should have a voice in deciding the rules. The more individuals and communities feel shut out of the process (as is increasingly the case here in PA), the louder the opposition will be. 

Permalink Reply by Chartist on February 12, 2012 at 1:16pm

Aubrey McClendon is a fool.....He kept buying CHK stock on margin all the way down until he had to sell to meet a margin call...I believe he lost $2 billion of his wealth.....

Permalink Reply by Dave on February 26, 2012 at 2:54pm

he has positioned his company to teeter on bankrupcy which would benefit chk they would emerge with the property they own for nothing with the jv partners holding the bag on the rest.

 

food for thought, gas goes to 1.50 it could be dust....

fool or fox?

015334grltd9mPermalink Reply by 015334grltd9m on February 12, 2012 at 5:07am

Me Afraid?  I love the game!  I wake up every morning smiling.

Who would have known that eastern Ohio had a product literally under our noses worth billions to mega corporations.  Everyone here knows they are getting more than their initial investment. 

 

Those who missed the boat and never valued LAND, they are the ones who live in fear, don't worry Jim we will allow the "have nots" a good paying job digging pipe ditches to earn their keep :')

 

Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on February 12, 2012 at 6:17am

Ron my dad never believed in the value of land. my mom and dad in the 50s had about 6 acres that they raised gladiolas and truck garden vegetables upon. In about 1959 my mom and dad looked at enlarging  and looked at some land. The land was priced at $500/acre, he told my mom Dang it Verla no one is going to drive this far out in the country to by produce.  That same land is the east side of State Rt 79 in Heath, Ohio.

The land today http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.031216,-82.434869&z=16&t=...

 

Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on February 26, 2012 at 3:00pm

I was thinking about letting them wash my new car! 

Permalink Reply by Ann Ticopa on February 12, 2012 at 6:48am

In the unlikely circumstance that fracking is banned (except temporarily), it will be because of actions by the industry ... not because of opposition from anti-frackers.  If you want fracking to continue, supporting reasonable regulation of the industry will be more productive than promoting an unreasonable fear of anti-frackers. 

RSS

© 2024   Created by Keith Mauck (Site Publisher).   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service