Eclipse-Oxford leases and extensions in Guernsey County

I am a landowner in Guernsey County with a 4 1/2 year old Oxford lease that is set to expire in about 6 months.  I, and apparently many others, have just received an offer from Eclipse to extend the lease for 3 years for a generous one time payment of $100.00 and the same 12 1/2%  royalty (but no line charges).  The extension provides for the grouping of 640 acres instead of the 160 acres in the old leases.  I had hoped that Eclipse would treat the landowners fairly, in contrast to the Oxford way, but apparently not.  The landman, who called me, reminded (threatened?) me that Oxford (now Eclipse) is still drilling its shallow wells to hold them by production.  According to the DNR records almost all of these shallow wells have only the tiniest of production of oil or gas or sometimes only salt water or nothing.  My neighbors tell me that Oxford comes in, sets up a small rig and drills for a few days and leaves.

 

One leverage the landowners have by not signing the extension is to deny Eclipse the right to put together the necessary 640 acres to drill a deep well.  If enough people do not sign the extension maybe we could get a realistic offer. 

 

Has anyone on here received a similar extension "offer"?  Is anyone actually signing these things?  Does anyone know of any law suits or other methods to stop this bad faith drilling of the shallow wells?  

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Permalink Reply by skittles on September 27, 2013 at 5:59am
Mark H. Be very aware. If a land man from chk is moving his lips, he is lying.
Permalink Reply by skittles on September 27, 2013 at 6:03am
Robin Hood. Chk doesn't need Aubrey for dirty tricks. He taught them very well.
Permalink Reply by skittles on September 27, 2013 at 6:07am
Also I would stay far away from eclipse. They are no better. Their land man told my son . "Just take the bonus, you're not going to get any royalties. You're land is too small.". Well yea, their lease has a half page of deductions for enhancements. That lease went to file 13.
Permalink Reply by skittles on September 27, 2013 at 6:12am
When I pointed the paragraph of enhancements out to him. He said " you're the first one to bring that up. They just can't get over thinking we are a bunch of dumb farmers.
Permalink Reply by bo boboski on September 27, 2013 at 8:10am

That"s what great about this site. It allows us dumb Farmers to get the knowledge needed to get the leases we deserve that don't cheat us out of $$$$.  those landmen hate it!

Permalink Reply by Tom on September 27, 2013 at 11:54am

I also have an Oxford-Eclipse lease that is going to expire very soon.  Like 4 months soon.  I live just on the other side of the hill from the Rex wells on Shannon Run and they are still interested in leasing land in Millwood Township adjacent to their existing leases.  Offering over $7000.00 an acre.  My neighbor and I are trying to clear up our titles to take advantage of this.  We both are part of a farm that had 2 OLD wells on it and both are showing producing by the ODNR, but neither are even capable of producing any longer.  One of the wells lists no known owner and the other does show an owner, but he doesn't hold a lease on the properties because the well is and has not been producing for many many years (This comes from my lawyer).  I have a good friend who is an ODNR well inspector and the un-owned well is in the process of being placed in the orphaned/abandoned well program.  He did get them to change the status from producing to "historic production", which essentially means it is no longer producing but did at one time.

Now, back on track.  I told the land man from Eclipse that I was not interested in their offer of the whopping $100.00 per acre for 3 years, and to buy time, if they could come up with a better offer I would entertain it.  They just dropped a packed at my door this week of $1000.00/acre per year for 10 years.  But still no change in the measly 12.5% royalty.  In fact I cannot even see a percentage listed in the paperwork anywhere.  There is no way I am going to sign with them.  If they want to come in and drill a shallow well on my puny 26 acres, it will have to be a very shallow Berea well.  And since they are notoriously very poor producers, it will be a money pit for them.  So I am biding my time until I get out from under this poor lease and can negotiate with Rex for a quality lease.  They (Rex) are going to be moving back into the area in 2014, so I have some time to get this done.

Permalink Reply by Trekker on September 27, 2013 at 4:24pm
I have heard that Eclipse is offering $7000 per acre and 20% gross. Has anyone heard of rates that high or higher from any oil company. I just wonder if there is any truth to the rumor.

Trekker
Permalink Reply by Tom on September 27, 2013 at 8:28pm

My neighbor signed with Rex a little while ago for $7000/acre.  There are some funky things going on with both of our properties, so the time ran out before Rex got the title done.  He told me that he is talking with Rex and his lawyer on re-singing again.

Permalink Reply by regina perrine on October 17, 2013 at 6:30am

Hi!

This is in response to Trekker and others. We own 107 acres  on McBurney rd Millwood township and have a lease with Oxford which was then bought by Eclipse Oil. They want us to sign  to "tweak" the lease with the prerequisite $100. . Our lease was the standard lease $10 an acre we signed in 2010. We refuse to sign. They also sent someone to our property to check the water my husband told him to leave and he did not have permission to come on our land. then someone called from a "water" company and wanted to check the water. this company was a subsidiary of Eclipse  and we said no again. We landowners are being cheated big time. If we stick together maybe we can get some real money. Eclipse did not seem to have a problem paying Oxford something like 4500 an acre for our lease but they won't pay us anything.  The guy who has 160 acres near quaker city getting a good vibe from Eclipse beware get a lawyer before you sign anything, you must not have been under a lease with oxford either. I am interested to hear from others in this situation.

Permalink Reply by Tom on October 17, 2013 at 9:06am

Regina,

You need to read these two articles on the forums here

Scare tactics or fact? Is Eclipse right?

fregiato rules oxford oil lease invalid

and then go see a GOOD lawyer.  I just had a meeting today with Joe Vavra, the lawyer mentioned in the one article about the family beating Oxford in court.  Seriously, DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING with Eclipse until you talk to someone who knows what is going on around here and then make an informed decision.

Permalink Reply by evan on October 17, 2013 at 10:42am

I'm right over the hill from you Regina and they tested my water last week.  Their putting a well pad on the pora property probably close to you.  I'm not sure which property is yours.  I'm not with Eclipse though so my situations different   

Permalink Reply by scott peterson on October 17, 2013 at 10:45am

I am in Millwood also by Salesville. Where is the Pora property?

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