Why worry or critisize the "flippers"?  Ther're all flippers ,except for a handfull of the Big Boys.  I see the plan now. You buy up a bunch of land leases; cheap as possible,you drill one well,hbp the unit area, see what's down there, then sell it to the Big oil companies for boocoo profits! It's all gonna end up in the hands of Shell,or Exxon,Chevron,maybe 1/2 more. The ones who signed early got screwed bigtime!  It's the American way. You buy cheap; sell high. Eventually the bigboys end up with it all. Be happy we dont live in China. They have a huge Shale play too!. Only the landowners do not have the mineral rights. that all belongs to the Government.