Story below from the Wheeling Inteligencer. I think this will be the things to come here in Guernsey County.
WHEELING - Belmont County mineral owners continue raising the bar in signing Utica Shale leases, as scores of them signed Friday to gain $4,950 per acre and 19 percent on production royalties.
The company preparing to drill into the rock underlying the county is XTO Energy, a subsidiary of the world's largest oil firm, Exxon Mobil. The landowners crossed the Ohio River to sign the deals at the SpringHill Suites hotel in Wheeling.
"This will be a huge economic boost for Belmont County," said Ed Sustersic, attorney in charge of arranging the deals. "We have analyzed this and we believe XTO will be a valuable partner for the landowners in Belmont County. It has been a pleasure to work with them."
Sustersic said XTO representatives came all the way from Texas to personally sign up the mineral owners. This was evident due to the many Texas license plates found throughout the parking lot.
Though he did not know the exact amount of acreage involved, Sustersic called the sum "substantial," noting he has worked with "an awful lot of landowners." Sustersic said the landowners organized by "word of mouth alone," noting another signing session may take place later, contingent upon demand.
"We feel we have done well, and we hope others do well," he said of other mineral owner advocacy groups.
Some believe the Utica Shale that underlies much of eastern Ohio may ultimately prove even more valuable than the Marcellus Shale beneath Pennsylvania and West Virginia. This is because, analysts say, the Utica contains more ethane, propane, butane and pentane than the Marcellus, and may hold significant amounts of oil.
The deals with Exxon Mobil come after New York City-based Hess Corp. invested $1.34 billion during the past few weeks to gain the rights to about 185,000 Utica Shale acres in Belmont, Jefferson, Harrison and Guernsey counties.
Another firm that has been signing leases in Belmont County lately is Phillips Resources Inc. Exxon Mobil recently paid $1.7 billion to acquire Phillips, which officials say will operate under the direction of XTO.
