Tioga County, PA

All things pertaining to the Marcellus Shale in Tioga County.

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  • Ann Ticopa

    But he (crew chief for Long Consulting) didn't say the landmen would be here "forever". My take on it is that while the companies that do the leasing (Long, Elexco, etc.) do have a few "permanent" local landmen, they bring in temporary people to do sweeps like the one in TC. ("Local" for TC seems to be Olean, NY.)

    The landman who last contacted me in mid-August was from the west coast and had previously worked Sullivan Co., PA. If the card a landman gives me has a yahoo, hotmail, etc. webmail address, I take that as a hint that he's transient.
  • Lynn Wigglesworth

    Hey, Buggs...if you are in the know, why don't you tell us what's going on? Why is leasing activity in Tioga Co. dead right now?
  • Ann Ticopa

    My understanding of articles about Shell's 3rd-quarter report is that they are evaluating their Marcellus properties. There are two new sites along Rte 549 (Roseville vicinity) where they appear to be ready to drill and another where they're going to do five additional wells from an existing pad.

    Seems like ERM is becoming more selective about where they lease/drill. Plus, the result of the TTLC sale did confirm that no other company was going to challenge them now for privately owned land in TC.
  • Lynn Wigglesworth

    There is still a lot of drilling activity here (southern Delmar/Shippen west of Wellsboro). There has been a constant stream of dump trucks and frac water trucks since last summer, all heading south on 660 toward the Canyon. Every time I go down that way I see two or three new wells, all ERM. Holding leases they already have, I suspect...I haven't heard of ANY new leasing going on around here.
  • Rambo

    Well driller just finished my vert. well on Tuesday of this week. All equipment was removed by Thurs. A large mess was left on the well pad I contacted East this morning at 8:00am and by 8:20am there was a crew here and they cleaned every inch of the pad up. Kudos to East for such a professional and quick response.
  • G S Gass

    Rambo,
    East has a full plate and it's good to know they are pro-active to restore the sites ASAP. Thanks for taking the time to acknowledge the quick response.
    GG CPL/ESA
  • paleface

    Why is the Haynesville gas play paying way more than we are getting,I thought the marcellus play was much better?
  • Ann Ticopa

    Take a look at what?
  • David J. Reed

    Who is the "player"?
  • Lynn Wigglesworth

    Why would this lease sale be any different than the last one? What has changed?
  • Ann Ticopa

    Josie, why wouldn't Shell just contact the TTLC and say they're ready to negotiate a deal?  According to the TTLC's Oct letter, in "Moving Forward":  "Perhaps East will see the light and choose to deal with the Coalition.   Anything and everything is on the table."
  • Lynn Wigglesworth

    I believe that there are elements of the TTLC lease that Shell/East will never accept. I don't think anything has changed since the last lease sale, except that Shell/East has an even tighter hold on Tioga Co. They already seem to have the winning hand, so they don't need to negotiate with anyone. There seems to be even less interest by other companies than before. I DID finally get a reply email from Chesapeake, but it seemed to be more fishing for info than interest in leasing.
  • Ann Ticopa

    I think I'd have to see the (non-entry) lease.  If I was a member of the Coalition, it would have to be really, really good to convince me to sign for a $1,000/acre (half the regularf) bonus.

     

    I wouldn't be confident that I'd get a royalty quicker by signing with Shell.  They likely do have the cash to develop rapidly.  But a good financial position would also allow them to wait until the price of gas goes up. 

     

     

  • Lynn Wigglesworth

    They clearly are doing that. Shell/East has thousands of acres held by (non)production. If I signed with them, I'd be put in a unit where it could be years before I see royalties.
  • Lynn Wigglesworth

    Chesapeake seemed interested in TIoga County in early 2010, making offers in my area (Delmar Township). Then, around July, they just pulled out of the area, leaving the offers dangling. Now they are back, at least asking questions (but didn't discuss the offer they made last year yet).
  • Lynn Wigglesworth

    Any idea what bonus/royalties Anadarko is offering?
  • Lynn Wigglesworth

    No, none of them are around me. Most of the land within a couple miles of me is leased to East.
  • Lynn Wigglesworth

    About 2-3 miles west of Wellsboro. East has leased much of the land out this way; they are putting in wells as fast as they can, declaring units, and moving on. The wells are all shut in; there's no pipeline, so no production yet.
  • Robin Jackson

    My Grandmother Lease with AnaDarko was just renewed..45 an acre. sad but true..Our lease was 2,500 last yr.with Talisman.
  • Lynn Wigglesworth

    ABARTA appears to have assigned all their leases (?) to G3 Royalty LLC. I've never heard of either company.
  • Robin Jackson

    Nate, Our property is in Covington Twp(2,500 pr. acre w/Talisman just after all the new leases they signed here they let the landsman go with no explanation..) ...Our Grandmothers (we are the land owners she holds minerals until she passes on. It is located in Nauvoo, Morris Twp.) was leased in 2006. She has already rec'd her check from Anadarko via Automatic extension clause. They even tried to get out of the 45 pr.acre.  Most the folks in Nauvoo area are leased through a landsman Jim B. (french name) . We are playing the game now with Anadark and Seismic Testing. Its a good chance a well will be put on the property.

  • Lynn Wigglesworth

    I've been trying to avoid leasing with East.
  • Ann Ticopa

    From an OpEd column about the WV Legislature in the Charleston Gazette:

    "The Lege is considering a measure to give tax breaks to the gas industry now scrambling all over Marcellus shale to encourage development. Isn't that sweet! As if the biz wasn't a runaway freight train already!"

     

  • Ann Ticopa

    Thanks!
  • Ann Ticopa

    Your bonus is ordinary income.
  • Bonnie M

    Check with a really good accountant..........Your sign on bonus is rental income.  Depending on your acreage, you are allowed to deduct say 5 acres for personal use and the rest is taxed as rental income.  We paid ours that way and saved thousands of dollars.  Once we paid our taxes we received a refund as we had over paid.  We were told we owed over $20,000 in taxes by H&R Block, we found out they were wrong.  Way wrong.........It is so worth a good accountant.
  • Ann Ticopa

    How did the fact that a bonus is classified as rental income save you "thousands of dollars" on your taxes?
  • Steven R. Rothenberger

    Help, Question,  Can anyone help me with information about the well pad site on Joe Hill Rd. about 1 mile off of Rt. 414? My question is as of Nov. 28 2010 it appeared to have only 2 sections of vertical casing drilled and installed can anyone tell me the status of this well?  Has the big rig shown up to drill the deep well or possibly the Horizontal? any Help would be appreciated I am 4 hours away and can't get any answers from Shell. Thanks, Joe
  • Scott Wilcox

    Gov. Corbett signed a bill into law that removes drill pad acreage from the Clean and Green Act.  7 years back taxes will be due.
  • Doug Pierson

    HB 1410 is currently in a House committee.  Link to text if interested (hope it works):

     

    http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txt...

  • Scott Wilcox

    Does anyone have access to a good pipeline map and compressor placement location?
  • Finnbear

    Here is a link to an article written by a prominent oil & gas attorney about lease clauses often found in leases offered  in the Utica and Marcellus Shale plays. Interesting reading and reinforces the fact that you MUST have a good landowner-friendly lease that you FULLY understand.

    Unusual Ohio Oil and Gas Lease Provisions
  • Betty Jean Jackson

    Receives Saturday a copy of recorded declaration of pooling and utilization of all or part leased acreage. My nephews and myself are included on the Swan, D. #1122 Unit. That's more than we knew months ago. Is there a map of this.
  • Doug Pierson

    What should have come with the declaration, Betty Jean, is a list of all parties in the pool, their respective percentages of ownership, and the map.  Obviously the gas company didn't send it or you wouldn't have asked the question.  So, I would either contact the gas company for those two pieces of information or from the county recorder.  The instrument number for the recorder would be on the front page.
  • William Ladd

    In the Tioga news headline,"Fatal Crash in Tioga County, Pa-WETM-TV has a special meaning to me.

     

    The fatality was the half sister of a very special young classmate of my daughter's.  This young classmate was afficted with a heart problem known commonly as "a hole in the heart."  Through the efforts that I made those many years ago this youngster was able to survive some years longer then was expected.

     

    Very few people ever knew the complete story of how this unfortunate youngster came in contact with a heart specialist. This all took place about 1966.  The youngster's name was Sherrie Harris from Westfield.

     

    Bill L.

    aka Bummy

  • William Ladd

    The huge pipeline just south of sabinsville has come to a standstill for a few days due to too wet soil conditions, My wife and I drove up the Grimes hill road a few days ago just to see where the pipeline crossed the hills. We were amazed to see up close just how large in diameter the pipe itself is. Looks to be nearly 30 inches in diameter. Foe a few weeks now we have been watching the process of digging the ditch as it drops into the "long run" creek area, and crosses route 349. It is very steep on both sides. Must have been pretty tricky digging on such a very steep incline! The pipe has been been deposited along the trench and looks to be almost ready to weld together and dropped into its trench.

    Bill L.

    aka Bummy

  • Nate

    Hi, I have friends who were contacted about their land in Tioga county. If anyone could give me the latest offers I would greatly appreciate it.

     

    The person who contacted them was an independent landman from Shell I believe.

     

    Thanks for your help in advance.

  • Nate

    Josie, thanks for the contact. I actually work in the oil & gas business and am well versed in termanology myself, though being from Ohio I wasn't sure what the dollars per acre and royalty rates were. If you have those numbers it would help me greatly.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Nate

  • Ann Ticopa

    Nate:  The standard TC offer from SWEPI (Shell) has been $2,000/15%/5years for a year or so.  Long Consulting, a hold-over from East, does their leasing.
  • Nate

    Ann do you think this is a fai offer
  • Ann Ticopa

    As you probably know, Shell bought East Resources' holdings ,,, which did not include any DCNR (state forest) leases. So SWEPI does not control much of the thicker shale in TC. Now if your friends have land around Covington of east or south of there and they want to lease it, they should contact the companies operating in that area. Time and more production numbers will tell if SWEPI's offer is "fair" for the rest of TC.  I'm sure some will disagree with me, but given the glut of dry gas and the state of the economy, I think SWEPI's offer is reasonable.
  • Nate

    Chatam twp I believe is the area
  • Ann Ticopa

    OK, Chatham Twp is in northwest TC.  Looking at recent production and permits spreadsheets available from the PADEP website, SWEPI is "the only game in town".
  • Lynn Wigglesworth

    In some areas of Tioga Co., Shell is, as Ann says, the only game in town. So it's not really a question of whether their offer is 'fair'...it's a question of take it or leave it. As far as I know, no one in this area has gotten better terms than $2000/acre 15% from Shell, and Shell will only accept certain addenda (that they write; they have a list of ones they offer). $2000/15% with no deductions and a non-surface lease is the best offer I've seen, and I accepted it. I waited 2 years, and I don't think the offers are going to get any better any time soon.
  • Jeff White

      We followed part of a drilling rig up Pleasant Valley Road in Farmington TWP yesterday. Does anyone know where it was going?
  • Wayne D

    Does anyone know where this compressor station is going to be ? The permit only stated stock 144 compressor station in Delmar Twp   GP5-59-216: SWEPI, LP (190 Thorn Hill Road, Warrendale, PA 15086) on January 28, 2011, for the construction and operation of three natural gas-fired compressor engines rated at 1340 brake-horsepower and two 250,000 Btu per hour glycol dehydrators under the General Plan Approval and/or General Operating Permit for Natural Gas, Coal Bed Methane Or Gob Gas Production Or Recovery Facilities (BAQ-GPA/GP-5) at the Stock 144 Compressor Station in Delmar Township, Tioga County.
  • Finnbear

    You get the royalties on whatever comes out of your well. It does not matter who buys it.
  • William Constantine

    Scott Wilcox, check this site. Its a drilling permit and activity record http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/minres/oilgas/RIG11.htm

     Check for violations submitted. Drilling is not as safe as everyone has been lead to believe.

  • Lynn Wigglesworth

    Wayne; the Stock 144 well is at Wolf Run Road and Horse Thief Run  (west of 287, north of Wellsboro); I assume the compressor station will be there, too, since it has the same name.
  • Sunny

    Many pipelines are in in Tioga county.   Does anyone know if or when the gas will start flowing?