Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Todd Kilmer on October 23, 2009 at 1:10am

Dont know the answers to most of your questions. I do know that they seem to be systematically working thier way through. Thier increased activity does seem to be a precursor to increased drilling activity. My understanding is that it gives a more detailed view of the shale formations and allows them to pick thier specific "spots". We survived it with a few weeks of minor inconvenience and commotion.

Permalink Reply by Bill McConnell on October 28, 2009 at 2:43pm

I was told by Fortuna to expect seismic testing during the winter months followed by agressive drilling and, with luck, producing wells by fall/winter 2010. Of course, I was told this before I signed. I own 50 acres in Warren Center. Where are you located?

Permalink Reply by Rob Thompson on October 29, 2009 at 2:49am

We are in franklindale......about 8 miles west of Towanda.....
we almost had a place in Warren Center! Would have been your neighbor :)
There are wells not too far from us in Burlington. But none in Franklin area yet. Sort of hoping they dont come here till after next June. We have a horrible lease that ends in June, hoping to get a decent signing before then. Would like the well, but who knows when it will produce money. Also have a pipeline easement lease, (two years that ends March of 2011) but no signs of them putting in a pipeline yet.

Permalink Reply by Michael Antrim on October 29, 2009 at 3:05am

Check your lease and see if it executed by the gas Company? An actual signature.
Also check and see if there is a max drilling unit. If the max is the 640 - they will need to contact you to sign adendum to mod your existing lease. This gives you a chance to get better verbage and may be royalities. Keep in mind the upfront $ means little compared to 20 yrs of checks coming in.

Permalink Reply by Rob Thompson on October 29, 2009 at 3:34am

We are out of town for the week, will check the lease when we get back. I realize that the future checks are where the money is....just have this vision of them starting to put a well on the property, and renewing our lease at 2 an acre ... then not having the well actually produce for 10 years!

Our lease was signed by previous homeowners...and to their credit, they do have verbage in the lease that gives the gas company limited access to the property, allows the homeowner to say where they can and cant go.

A bit confused as to the meaning of the max drilling unit. This would be specified in the lease? What does it mean? what is a max of 640?

Permalink Reply by Michael Antrim on October 29, 2009 at 4:04am

the standard lease states max drilling unit is 640 acres. i'm in a drilling unit that needed me to modify the lease allowing them to increase the unit to 780. At that point they need me to alter the lease and this is my only bargining chip. My lease was in place unexecuted/signed. Now we are pushing back for better terms. My lease was never signed by gas company. Agruement exists that the lease is not valid. The lease must be signed by all parties. Even if you are renting a house, all parties need to sign the lease and terms.

Permalink Reply by Rob Thompson on October 29, 2009 at 4:06am

Ah, very interesting....will have to look into this when we get back.

Permalink Reply by Michael Antrim on October 29, 2009 at 3:01am

I have just been contact also. It seems weird? The notice states 2nd Phase. I'm Already in a drilling unit. The Drill is active and running. Why would they do another test especially after they are already drilling?

Does anyone understand their madness here?

Permalink Reply by skc on October 31, 2009 at 9:14am

Our property straddles Bradford and Tioga counties. Last May, we heard that seismic testing had been done on the property adjacent to ours, Burleigh. Last week, a drilling permit was issued for the same property. I don't know who their lease is with or whether that's a typical timeline, but...

Seismic testing was completed on our property (300 acres) in early August, I think. We have no idea what to expect next. You'd think these oil companies would have a lessee liaison, someone to keep in touch with each landowner/group to tell us what's happening. Seems like Customer Relations 101.

Any-hoo: Somewhere on this site is a link to another site (subscription - ugh) that keeps track - daily - of drilling permits issued in each county.

Cheers,
Sarah

Permalink Reply by Sarah Nevin on November 5, 2009 at 9:08am

Sarah, you can receive the permit notifications for FREE if you sign up for the DEP eNotice.

http://www.ahs2.dep.state.pa.us/eNOTICEWeb/

There you can set up email notifications for all kinds of permit activities and filter by county and township. Personally, I'm a little weary of the site that charges the "subscription" for something you can easily get for free.

Also, regarding the seismic testing - this is only a rumor, but the source is fairly legit. If you are in an area that was previously tested seismically, they may be testing for yet another formation called "Devonian" black shale. It is apparently a layer that lies even deeper than the Marcellus and holds just as large of a deposit of gas as the Marcellus layer. However, the word is that the industry doesn't exactly have economically feasible technology to extract gas from the layer yet. So, from what I know, the companies are mapping out this layer now (and possibly moving into lease agreements for it) so that when the technology is available, they'll know exactly where to go to drill and most likely have leases for it already in place. Those who have not signed a lease yet but are looking to, be sure to check and make sure they're not locking you into an agreement for the Devonian layer as well.

Permalink Reply by Sarah Nevin on November 5, 2009 at 10:06am

Sorry, correction - that other shale layer is called the "Trenton Black River". Again, apologize for the mistake.

Permalink Reply by Tom Copley on October 31, 2009 at 3:21pm

Rob-- The wiki is always a good place to start on a question like this. Both seismic testing and Geokinetics are covered there. --Tom

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