Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ripley's Believe it or Not on July 19, 2012 at 5:02pm

HMM???  Interesting,very interesting!!!

Permalink Reply by Finnbear on July 20, 2012 at 2:36am

He appears to have somehow co-opted the mailing list and is targeting those in the Smith-Goshen group. I received an unsolicited email from him about a week ago.

Permalink Reply by Dan on July 20, 2012 at 5:29pm

Below is the unsolicited email that was sent. 

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Dear Belmont County Landowner,

My name is Troy Sneddon.  As a local landowner and resident of Goshen Township, I have watched as many of my friends and neighbors joined leasing groups with the intent of negotiating a fair and equitable mineral lease. These folks, like myself, found themselves in a whirlwind of legalese, misinformation and rumors and found themselves asking many questions with less than adequate answers. I have watched as many in these groups simply got frustrated and at some point eventually were persuaded by the "landmen" to sign individual leases that may not turn out to be the most equitable for the landowner. I do not fault the large corporations for their tactics since they are in business to make money and the more their lease favors them; then the more profit there is on their bottom line. I have seen neighbors get together after signing leases only to find out that one neighbor was paid $5,000 per acre in bonus money and the neighbor only 100 yards down the street was paid $500 per acre. This was disturbing to me as well, as for many of us this is a life changing decision and an opportunity of a lifetime. I, like some of you, am a member of multiple groups and have been for too many months. I began to explore the opportunities to better educate myself about the issues that we all face as landowners in this area. I have met with geologists who specialize in the Marcellus and Utica Shales in our area. I have met with those companies who are interested in purchasing our minerals. I have met with individuals who have had great success in our area in the negotiation of group leases and I have and continue to educate myself about the issues we all face.

I have been a licensed real estate appraiser and small business owner in Belmont County for the past 14 years and have decided to apply my real estate team's knowledge to the task of acquiring an equitable lease for a group. I have assembled a team of real estate specialist with a combined total of over 70 years experience in negotiating multi-million dollar leases. Our team of specialists also includes the services of geologists and industry specialists who will assist us in our endeavor to get an equitable lease.

I am writing to inform you that many of you will soon be receiving an invitation by mail to join our group. I know that you, like me, have been approached by many who have promised to take us to the promised land of an equitable lease. However, if you’re like me, you have yet to see any real results from your patience. I have reliable information that there will be a large corporation who will soon begin to purchase large portions of the remaining acreage in the area and that the corporation is not interested in dealing with the existing landowner's groups for a number of reasons. Their intent is to have landmen approach us as individuals, however they have expressed interest in acquiring a group since this is the timeliest resolution for them. Our experienced team has begun negotiating an acceptable lease agreement for our group.  It is of the utmost importance that we unite.

The best leases in our area have been successfully negotiated as a group. It is unlikely that any of those folks could have gotten such a lucrative and workable lease without the strength of a group.

I have attached a copy of our enrollment form as a pdf file that can be filled * out and mailed to Global Shale Landowners Group, LLC PO Box 489 St. Clairsville, Ohio 43950. Rest assured that we are requesting only public information at this time and that that you will not be obligated to sign any lease that we may present to the group.

Feel free to reply to this e-mail or call Troy Sneddon at 740-359-6835.

Thanks for your time.

Troy A. Sneddon

President

Global Shale Landowners Group, LLC

*Submission of the enrollment form may not guarantee acceptance into the group. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Small business owner..........like a retail store or concession stand (hot dog vendor)?

Large corporation............like a O&G exploration company or real estate lease acquisition company like “flippers”?   I personally don't have any problem with lease flippers as long as they answer all questions honestly and don't come out of the box with a line of BS or beat up the very old and uninformed or try to make a quick buck off the hard work of others by stealing other groups contact info.