Old Gas leases

My grandmother signed a gas lease in the 70's. For years there was one well. The property has now been passed down twice and the gas lease at least 4 times. 3 years ago the current lease holder, Dannic from Indiana, PA. drilled two more wells. These are not the Marcellus deep wells. Most of my family does not want drilling on the property. Can they drill a deep well with the 70's era lease? Who would of even imagined (not my Grandma) the size and scope of today's drilling practices? Is there anyone out there who has been able to terminate a lease without the gas company abandoning it? Are there other people saying no to the deep wells that leased years ago like my family did? No one currently lives on the wooded and hilly 125 acres in Brady Township, Clearfield Co. PA. but it has been in the family for 5 generations.

 

We are currently being asked to approve seismic testing. What is the scope of that. They told my cousin if we did not approve then we would not be able to prove any gas being drawn out from under us by nearby deep wells. Dannic has applied for a deep well at our neighbors. I do not know how far horizontal drilling practices go.

 

We are very concerned about water quality and availability. The east fork of the Mahoney runs through our property. We do not want anymore fracking on the property.

 

Can anyone out there explain our rights as property owners? At this time it appears they can do whatever they want, whenever they want and we have no say. I am feeling ripped off and taken advantage off. The money we get from the 3 wells is not even close to worth it!!!

 

HELP

 

Tanya  Striedieck   stargar@sonic.net

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jim Pollock on October 30, 2010 at 8:14am
Tanya,

AS far as I know, if there is a producing on the land, there is no way to break the lease. My Grandpa had some land with a well and it is also held by a producing well.

I believe that the only hope that you may have is that the gas company will have to get the owners to sign a revision to the lease to allow for larger units sizes. They need larger unit sizes to drill the horizontal wells. I don't know for sure but I don't think that the gas company will be able to drill a horizontal if the land owners do not sign this revision . I know that you don't want a horizontal well but these will produce way more than your current wells and you should get atleast 12.5% of the royalties depending on what was in the old lease.
Permalink Reply by Sara A. Worsham on October 31, 2010 at 3:59am
Tanya, When your grandmother signed the lease, it became a binding contract between her (and/or her future heirs) and the oil company. Because there has been continuous production, the agreement would still be binding between both parties. If the oil company is asking you to approve seismic testing (basically like a sonogram- it allows geologists to better view the formations) then I would have to assume that your current lease does not allow for seismic testing. I suggest that you take a copy of the lease to an oil and gas attorney to review, so that they can expain all the clauses in the lease to you so that you are aware of what the contract binds you to and what the company has the right to do. Hopefully, with the drilling that is being done around you, the company will be able to get more production and your checks will increase significantly.

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