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Permalink Reply by Tim Tarr on November 6, 2013 at 5:56pm

Lance,

LOL

Back in the day (~2005) it was East Resources (SWEPI now) tried to get my mom to lease. They went all the way up to $250/acre and 1/8. When she told 'em the oil and gas wasn't eat'n nothing . They actually asked her why she didn't just sell the place. Her exact response was "Why don't you just kiss my ....."

   Well took about 5 years and offers from 2 or 3 different companies but finally got something acceptable. East sold most of those leases around Us to RRC just before Shell bought East. Making the owner of East a Billionaire. 

Now about to get first royalty check.

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Permalink Reply by Trapper on November 6, 2013 at 4:44am

Good point James. The problem with Lawrence County PA is we only have two players and they seem to be working together in a vague sort of way. At the beginning of the year they had a couple rounds of lease swapping and now we seem to be stuck at 1500/acre (I have heard). I would say the majority of rural land is leased up , so those left have no leverage at this time. The new leases being recorded by Shell lately are re-signing of old East Resources leases which were signed at 1500/acre originally, thus this seems to be the standard for now.

People have the right to wait for more signing bonus , but they may be risking the loss of many dollars in royalty by getting hung up on the nickels and dimes which are signing bonus.

My Shell lease includes the option to extend for 5 more years at the same terms. We will see how that goes in 3 yrs, when lease #1 expires. Perhaps I will be facing a similar conundrum , we will see.

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Permalink Reply by Lance Nimmo on November 6, 2013 at 5:04am

Shell has until 2016. After that, huge swaths of land will start coming available. As that's when the original weasel leases were swindled to the first landowners. I can't wait.

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Permalink Reply by Trapper on November 6, 2013 at 5:47am

In October 2016 my Shell lease is up for renewal.

I consider it a good enough lease @3000/acre , 15% no deductions , no storage , same terms renewal , etc. , etc.

What constitutes a "weasel lease"?

From news releases and articles published lately in the world press , the possibility cannot be ignored that Shell may be out of the shale picture sometime soon. I doubt it will happen , but if it does , I guess we will be vetting new suitors in 2016. 

If this turns out to be the case , waiting them out may be a wise choice. If not , prepare to be pooled and get what the state dictates. 

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Permalink Reply by Lance Nimmo on November 6, 2013 at 5:50am

You signed a 5/5 lease in 2011. I'm talking about 10 year leases signed in 2006 und "Central Appalachian Petroleum," a total joke used to flip the leases to East, then Shell. And Shell isn't going anywhere. Period....

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Permalink Reply by Trapper on November 6, 2013 at 6:09am

I see. I believe some of my neighbors here in New Beaver signed with that outfit as well. I had no idea it was a ten year lease. At that time(2006) I signed a "weasel" lease with Great Lakes (subsequently sold to Range Resources) so they never approached me.

Your right , I don't see Shell leaving so there is likely to be a flurry of drilling to HBP between now and 2016. If there is not , then I say Shell IS leaving. What do you think?

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Permalink Reply by Lance Nimmo on November 6, 2013 at 8:33am

I think there will only be so much they can do between now and then. They have 2 years to get a bunch of land tied up. I think they put the cart before the horse in our county. For the first 4 years of O&G leasing landowners were lied to repeatedly by various companies/landmen. Now, the heirs of those entities' work are assigned with getting pipelines in. I don't think they realized the level of contempt people have fore their industry. I know the sympathizers will come on beating the "no one forced them to sign" drum and that's fine. Fact is that Shell, IMO, has to figure out how to get some gathering line ROW's in place before they can go from exploratory to production. Offering $20/ft. isn't making people too excited that got $6 (that's right six dollars) per acre 7 years ago. They are smart in not giving up pipeline ROW's, as that increases the likely hood that their leases could expire. Again, all my thoughts... 

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