Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jim Litwinowicz on January 30, 2013 at 4:07pm

I was there from 6 to close.....one of the last to leave. I did hear one rep tell someone that the big "astronomical" bonus numbers are gone,  was that you JohnL? Said future offers would be "more reasonable."  So much for waiting and waiting for the best deal, huh Fang?

Was told they were drilling 18 wells in Mercer Co, 12 in Butler and none in Lawrence this year. No info on how many pads or locations of wells. They are not currently leasing but take that with a grain of salt as the most companies are still working on their budgets for the year. I suspect they will be doing leasing targeted areas by late spring.  The questions are what are the targeted areas and what numbers will be offered.

They gave no presentations but had various stations set up showing different aspects of drilling. You could walk about and ask people at each station anything you wanted.  Of course, they didn't always have the answer. But still, it was informative and I learned some good info.

And yep, Terry W, the food was very good.  Always is at the Family Traditions.

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Permalink Reply by JohnL on January 31, 2013 at 1:03am

Jim- it could have been me. I was there about that time. I took all of what he said with a grain of salt. I'm sure every Shell rep were given their "talking points" before the open house. He went on to say that we should not walk away from an offer put in front of us and he did say they would consider signing a lease for $0 upfront money and lower royalties! I bet they would. I agree with Fang that the offers will eventually come. All of this leasing has occurred in just the past 18 months, two years ago I knew nothing about Utica shale. Two years from now we'll all know a lot more.

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Permalink Reply by james on January 30, 2013 at 4:31pm

I wonder what kind of offers they will start making? I talked to a shell landman last month and they were leasing certain parts of mercer county and the offer was $3000 and 15% royalties, I heard somewhere else they were paying $3000 and 16.5%? If they try to lease to low I dont think many people will sign, this sounds like a scare tactic to me to get people to try to take any offer they present?

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Permalink Reply by Lance Nimmo on January 31, 2013 at 2:03am

I signed with Shell in Pine Twp for $3,250@18.5 percent no deductions. It should be that for everyone. the idea that the money should go down is lughable at best. The price of gas was $1.90 last summer when they were leasing people at a breakneck pace. For example, I spoke with a geologist this fall, and asked why they weren't doing any seismic testic in my area. She smiled, and said, "because we already know what's there." LMFAO

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Permalink Reply by Gary on January 31, 2013 at 2:17am

How many acres do you have and is that pine twp Mercer or Allegheny?

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Permalink Reply by Lance Nimmo on January 31, 2013 at 3:35am

37 acres. Mercer. Enterprise rd. just east of Grove City.

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Permalink Reply by cheliped on January 31, 2013 at 3:30am

As far as Butler County goes, it is almost all leased.  Maybe this is why they can say we are not leasing anymore - it is already leased.  Can they hold all of the leased land by production before the leases run out?  I wonder what percent of land is leased in Butler County.  Does anyone have a number?  75%?

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Permalink Reply by Oliver Perry on January 31, 2013 at 3:44am

cheliped,

My guess would be Shell has about 60 - 65% of their territory in Butler County leased. 

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Permalink Reply by cheliped on January 31, 2013 at 4:39am

Oliver,

Do you think that explains why they are not leasing?  With that much acreage, do you think they need anymore?  I think they will try to hold as much land as possible by production, and when the remaining leases start to expire, we will see the bonus money increase.

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Permalink Reply by Oliver Perry on January 31, 2013 at 5:32am

I  think thats at least part of the reason. One of the reps at the meeting last night told me the low price of gas is the reason, but I don't believe that. No other company is interested in leasing in Shell's territory, they don't have any competition. But I do think Shell will do more leasing around future well sites to form their units. There is still quite a lot of unleased parcels out there, and they will need at least some of those to fill in the gaps for some units.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Litwinowicz on January 31, 2013 at 5:42am

I asked about leasing some parcels to fill in areas and was told they only sign parcels that are in planned units. I am sure they will do some more leasing later in the year. Hard to tell just how much of what they were saying was just part of the sales pitch.

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Permalink Reply by paleface on January 31, 2013 at 6:04am

I've never seen a company change plans and as often as Shell,there like mountain weather.

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