Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lynn Wigglesworth on July 27, 2011 at 3:20am

I don't know...signing a lease still seems pretty simple to me. If I can get the lease I want (non-surface), all I do is sign, a very large check shows up, I give the government their share and pocket the rest. My land won't be torn up by a well, and sooner or later I'll start getting a check every month for some totally unknown amount (of which, of course, the government gets it's cut). It's like 'found money'.

Permalink Reply by William Ladd on July 29, 2011 at 2:21am

What I am saying Lynn is these leases are so complex that it is very easy to be mislead. The wording often seems simple and straight forward. The landmen are talking to you at the same time you are reading their offers. Even something that appears to be nothing more then a flyspeck deposited in between two words can change the understanding.

 

Not everyone is as articulate as you may be or have the dollar bills needed to hire a lawyer superor to the gas company's lawyer.  It takes much time to hash these agreements out. and not everyone has that time left that could make his life easier.

 

Look at Uncle Sam and the situation he has put us all in! 4 days left to decide if our country is going to default on its financial obligations or not. This morning a brick wall has been raised that is said to bring the discussion to a "back to the drawing board" condition.

 

Bill L.

aka Bummy

Permalink Reply by Lynn Wigglesworth on July 29, 2011 at 3:24am

Bill; there are people who have gotten great deals, but it's usually people in a landowner group. We don't have 'groups' here (TTLC seems to have died after 2 unsuccessful attempts at leasing TIoga Co. land). Most people end up with the standard lease and a few addenda...with Shell, you have to take the addenda THEY have written. I'm sure their 'no deductions' addendum is full of loopholes that will let them deduct all sorts of stuff from my royalties. What can ya do? I'm finding that there isn't much "hashing out" to do...with Shell, like with East, it's "take it or leave it".

But, even under the worst standard lease, people get their bonus and WILL have money coming in once the wells are producing. We are basically gambling on how much we will eventually get, but we, as landowners, aren't taking any risks. Sure, they can hold our land without producing anything until THEY are ready, but that costs us nothing, and we will have gotten bonus money to tide us over.

 

The shenanagans in Washington is something I have no control over...no matter what happens, it's going to come down to pinching the taxpayer. It always does.

Permalink Reply by William Ladd on July 29, 2011 at 10:44am

You seem to be right about TTLC Lynn. Didn't they have about 10,000 acres signed up?

 

 After reading all the garbage and this rule and that rule and law suits against various drillers, shutdowns, absences of proper permits and then today the local paper says no more sucking water from the cowanesque river and other streams because of the low flow created by lack of rain.

 

I noticed a fairly good sized pipeline being laid across rt 349 a few miles south of  Sabinsville, ( or Cathead as known to the local residents) today.

There is a well site a mile plus just  east of me and directly south of the village of Cowanesque on top of the hill. A pad area has been prepared according to my neighbor who owns land next to the site.. There is a right of way used by adjoining farms but it needs to be widened and heavily graveled before they can bring any heavy trucks in. A major pipeline  was laid over that hill not very far from where that new well site is about 60 years ago. I remember it crossed our road about a half mile north of our property. Seems like it was about about 14 inches in diameter.

 

A couple years ago there was talk of a well being drilled about every couple of miles apart in this area in a few years.

 

Bill L.

aka Bummy

Permalink Reply by Lynn Wigglesworth on July 29, 2011 at 10:53am

That's already happening in Delmar township. Shell has a series of units, about 3000' wide, and a couple of miles long, all over the township. They've only drilled vertical wells to hold the units, but they have started taking out permits to start drilling horizontals (6 per unit). I assume they want to do the 3D seismic testing first so they know exactly where to put the bores.