If a company can get $250,000 a day out of a well in Southern Ohio and $10,000 a day out of a well in Trumbull County, where do you think that they are going to drill? Not in Ashtabula County, right now. They are going to take the easy stuff first.
Ashtabula is squarely in the volatile oil window. It will see action - just not right away - It is not in the "low hanging fruit" area, and extraction techniques will need to be figured out. I guess patience is the word. The same is true of Trumbull, Geauga and Portage. Learn as much as you can now on sites such as this so as to be prepared when leasing starts up again. Note: There is a lot of nonsense here as well - people with agenda driven ideas and posts. Take with a "grain of salt"
Keep your eye on Enron Oi & Gas, particularly their Gonzalez, Wilson County Eagle Ford wells. They are figuring out how to extract oil from shallower strata. As this is perfected, it will come to Ashtabula. Patience will be necessary, it is not going to happen overnight.
I have to agree with several of the comments below! New, improved fracing technologies will be the key to further leasing/drilling in Ashtabula County. As was stated, the profit per well for this area is just not there right now... As part of the Magyar Group that signed about 2 years ago, this leaves me in what I feel is a really good position since there are only 3 years left on the original 5 year term of our lease. Therefore: A) Beland must drill sometime within the next 3 years, or... B) Beland must use the automatic 5 year renewal option in the lease (meaning another payment of $4,250 per acre) in order to continue holding the acreage under lease, or... C) Our leases will be terminated, title to the mineral rights cleared again, and we can wait until technology has improved enough to warrant O & G companies to lease again.
Since we already got 4250 an acre, a really good lease, and time on our side, I find any of the 3 above options as fine with me! What would hurt most now would be for Beland to go ahead with a well, not do it properly, and the dud be a barely producing one. THAT would hold acreage yet pay little or nothing in royalties! Yeah...I'm hoping for no drilling yet - at least none in the near future! ;-)
I listen to what CEOs say mostly on business channels. Halcon's CEO called Northern Trumbull County wells horrible to say it nicely. Enervest has bought 3 or 4 companies in Ashtabula County (AC) since around 2003. They have drilled a few test wells, they hit NGLs, they are keeping some leases in AC, and they service a Clinton well for me. I have another Clinton well leased by another company who only controls 40 acres around it down to the Clinton well. But in September 2011, it appears that they sold my Utica drilling rights to Chesapeake, and then the word leaked out to everyone.
This is what Enervest's CEO Walker said at a gas / oil conference last fall.
The volatile oil EnerVest is exploring in the Utica refers to hydrocarbons that are in a gaseous or near-gaseous stage when trapped in a reservoir. As they are brought up to the surface, changes in temperature alter the state of these hydrocarbons and produce liquids.
"It's valuable because the price of oil is much higher than the price of natural gas and natural gas liquids," he said. However, it's much more difficult to extract oil molecules from shale than dry gas or NGLs.
Walker said his company has two test wells in the volatile window, and he believes that the rock and pressure is sufficient there to allow production. "The volatile oil window has a tremendous amount of oil in place, about 16 million barrels per section," he reported. "We just haven't scientifically figured how to get it out yet. Our industry is a very high-tech industry and we will learn how to do that."
The EnerVest CEO said he's confident the volatile oil window code could be cracked within two years. "I'm optimistic. I think that if we had to say what part of the Utica has the most upside potential, it might be the volatile oil window."
But that's probably not the case with the "black" oil deposits that border the volatile oil window, Walker said. "It's thermally immature."
Still, as technology improves, so does the potential of tapping black oil, Walker said, reminding the audience that 10 years ago, engineers thought it impossible to extract natural gas and natural gas liquids from shale.
Three townships were targeted in 2008, Williamsfield, Andover, and Richmond. In January 2011, Chesapeake entered the picture buying leases mostly in those townships. In September 2011, they appear to have bought leases in most townships from Enervest. The CEO has said that they are trying to sell Ashtabula County leases, no takers yet. Some of those 5 year 2008 leases are expiring. Chesapeake is leasing, extending, and releasing a few leases. So when Chesapeake, Enervest, and BP talk, I'm listening.
The two biggest are Williamsfield and Richmond in the last year. I know a landowner in Andover Township, his 5 year lease is up this summer, was bought by Chesapeake, I'll try to find out his options.
BP just announced during its first quarter report that they are pulling out and selling Trumbull County leases. 20 barrels of oil a day isn't good enough for them.
BP America is planning to sell off 105,000 leasehold acres it owns in the Mahoning Valley as part of its exit strategy in the Utica shale, a company spokesman says.
"Just because this play doesn't fit in our BP portfolio doesn't mean it's a busted play," said Curtis Thomas, BP Ohio's director of government and public affairs. "It doesn't mean that it's not a perfect play for another oil and gas operator."
BP announced this morning that poor returns from its appraisal well program has caused it to discontinue investment in the northern tier of the Utica shale, especially in Trumbull County, where the company has drilled eight wells.
Looks like the winners are the ones that took the BP money and ignored the others that cried wait , wait for a better offer. I don't expect anything big in my life time.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- BP America is planning to sell off 105,000 leasehold acres it owns in the Mahoning Valley as part of its exit strategy in the Utica shale, a company spokesman says.
"Just because this play doesn't fit in our BP portfolio doesn't mean it's a busted play," said Curtis Thomas, BP Ohio's director of government and public affairs. "It doesn't mean that it's not a perfect play for another oil and gas operator."
BP announced this morning that poor returns from its appraisal well program has caused it to discontinue investment in the northern tier of the Utica shale, especially in Trumbull County, where the company has drilled eight wells.
The corporation issued a $520 million write-down related to its Utica investment as part of BP's first quarter earnings report released today.
Thomas says that at present, the Utica does not meet the corporation's investment criteria and plans to market its Utica assets for sale. The company holds 84,000 acres in Trumbull County and another 11,000 or so acres in neighboring counties in northeastern Ohio.
"Different companies have different criteria," Thomas said. "So, we hope there will be another company that will come in and they'll look at the property, look at the assets and they'll say that this fits their portfolio."
Thomas emphasizes that BP is proud of the investments it's made in the community, including donations to the region's educational programs. "We've tried to be a good neighbor while we were here," Thomas said. "We're proud of the investments that we made."
BP entered the Utica market two years ago when it signed about 1,900 landowners to oil and gas leases encompassing 84,000 acres in Trumbull County. These leases included bonuses of $3,600 per acre to landowners and 17.5% royalties on production.
But production at five test wells coordinated by BP in the county have, at best, proved anemic.
According to fourth-quarter production reports issued Friday by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, BP drilled four wells in Trumbull County, and its appraisal partner, Brammer Engineering, drilled one well.
The most productive of these wells is the Lennington well in Johnston Township, ODNR reports. That well produced 1,889 barrels of oil and 20,316 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas, or Mcf over a 92-day period. BP's Buckeye well in Hartford Township produced 378 barrels of oil and 20,322 Mcf of gas during a 75-day period; BP's Zerovich well in Mecca Township produced 746 barrels of oil and just 2,884 Mcf of natural gas over 30 days; and its Jewett well in Johnston Township reported no production results.
A fifth well drilled by Brammer Engineering -- the Morrison well in Mecca Township – produced 1,078 barrels of oil 9,487 Mcf of natural gas.
The average oil production per well across the Utica stood at 4,089 barrels of oil over a 65-day period. Average gas production stood at 122,514 Mcf, ODNR reported.
Alan Wenger, a principal at the Harrington, Hoppe & Mitchell, who coordinates the law firm's oil and gas program, helped negotiate the BP deal and it's possible those leases could be reassigned, he says.
"There still could be development from other companies," Wenger tells The Business Journal. "I think they'll market the land and assign the leases."
For example, an energy company might find a way to develop the acreage with less expense and investment, and thus realize more profits in the northern tier of the Utica.
"It's a matter of economic viability," Wenger says. "Companies might be able to develop these more cheaply."
Plus, as technology and drilling techniques improve, this section of the Utica shale can become more viable. "As this comes along, there might be other opportunities," Wenger says.
Most of the lease bonuses have been paid out, but there might be a handful that encountered title issues, which remain unresolved, Wenger says.
The leases include a five-year term with an option to renew and were signed in 2012, Wenger notes. "Those parcels are still under lease and could be developed per the terms of the leases."
Clearly, most of the interest in the Utica shale has shifted from the northern section to counties in the south, where oil and gas production is robust.
I still know people who have not cleaned up their old leases and don't receive any royalties. Not because they don't want to but they don't have the money. At what point should one bite the bullet and just take on more debt? Or is it best to wait til some interest? Anyone like to comment?
It depends on how you intend to lease your property. If you plan on waiting until a company knocks on your door and wants your land I wouldn't do anything, a company that wants your land will work out the problems. If your plans include joining a land group that says all or nothing, you will want your old leases cleaned up. Oil companies will use title defects to weed out parcels they don't want.
With today's climate, I could not justify taking on debt to clear up title defects. One can do it themselves for less than $100.00 per lease. It takes 90 days to clear a lease, clear one lease every 90 days. It will cut into the beer allowance, but it can be done. At the rate we are going you will have plenty of time.
I would be interested on how to do this myself... We have 10 old leases on our Ashtabula property, We had an attorney quote $1000.00 per lease to clean them up. To say the least they are still there. Didn't want to spend $10,000.00 we don't have, until we knew something was about to happen in our area.
$10,000 to clear land that showed 10 leases filed on it is way too high unless each lease is still active (very unlikely). $100 per lease to get them forfeited is unrealistically low, unless each lease had zero assignments or unitizations and was never active (also unlikely).
Getting a release from a lessee is very cheap but you have to do a leasehold examination at the courthouse, or have someone do it for you, to make sure you are getting the release from the right entity, otherwise it could be worthless.
Filing forfeiture affidavits costs less than $100 for the actual filings, but all the work that is necessary to make sure they are done correctly can cost a lot more than that, unless you do it yourself. Most people are not comfortable doing it themselves because if anything is done the least bit wrong then the affidavits have no effect and the lease isn't cleared.
But it is certainly true that there's no hurry to get this done right now.
I should have mentioned in my previous post, the first thing you should do is contact the companies and request a release. This process requires that you know who owns the lease at this time, and you have a way to call or mail them. If you have that contact them and request a release. Don't expect a lot of success, I only had 1 out of 6 send a release, but it is at no cost except to file it one time.
The next step is to use ORC 5301.332 notice of forfeiture. I posted my experience with it, and it turned into a pretty good discussion on the process. The hardest part for me was searching the records. Don't let searching the records stop you. At first I found it very confusing, but the people at the recorder's office are great.
A link to another post at the General Forum pages to what I think to be significant reading follows (go to page 3 once there to find pertinent commentary) :
Ashtabula County Utica development 'on hold' per politicos and as storied in the Star Beacon.
Article cites low oil prices, no takeaway systems in place yet, other infrastructure and earthquake concerns.
Oil industry in another linked article indicates development will continue / grow as development costs are falling and in spite of less dollars per barrel pricing.
Takeaway capacity is fixable if you ask me - develop R.O.W. agreements, lease and drop pipe.
Earthquakes are due to waste water injection wells as I've read - not fractured production wells; and that seems fixable to me also by going with Waterless / Gas Fracturing Production Wells where water / waste water disposal aren't even required.
So I think we all need to tell our politicians to step on the gas - prosperity is knocking on our doors.
When I look over the fence at the gasoline refiner's lawn it seems much greener than mine.
A quick online check showed oil, in June, at 105 per barrel, and gasoline, in June, at 3.68 per gallon.
A look at the top of this site shows oil at 52.00 per barrel, but the price for gas today in Orwell is 2.27 per gallon. The price per barrel of oil today is roughly 1/2 of what it was in June. One might think the price of gasoline would follow and be roughly 1.84 per gallon. I realize that not all of a refiner's cost fluctuate with the price of oil, and are fixed. I just believe they would be hard pressed to justify a 43 cent per gallon difference.
Another example, when oil was 150.00 a barrel gas was 4.00 a gallon. Oil today is 1/3 of that price, but gas is not even close to 1.33 per gallon. If you work the numbers the opposite way and oil returns to 150 a barrel gas would be 6.81 per gallon. These are very rough numbers, but I think it shows we are getting the soiled end of the stick.
For those who might be interested. The Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners will be having a meeting on current oil and gas legislation. The meeting will be in the commissioner's conference room at the old court house in Jefferson 2nd floor at 11:00 am July 20. People attending are asked to rsvp to llhawkins@ashtabulacounty.us, or phone 440-576-3745.
Although we're so very interested we're not going to be able to attend this meeting. Should you or any other of our neighbors attend kindly keep us informed via posting comments / discussions. Thanks for the heads up neighbor.
Well I hope this discussion is not being about more Regs and rules to manage our properties. It Cost me plenty to remove the prior oil guy and no one ponied up to help pay that.
I hope Ashtabula county doesn't become a dumping grounds for other states. Anyone know why EPA doesn't allow injection wells in PA? Seems like if they can drill a well they should deal with the waste.
This question was asked at the July meeting in Jefferson. It was stated that their geology was not ideal for disposal wells. I have no way of knowing if that statement is true, or self serving.
I know every lease offered to me over the years had the right to injection wells included in the wording. One can only wonder how many landowners that are hbp have already signed up for an injection well.
Can't confirm or deny the part about PA's geology being unsuitable for injection wells - so is ours because we don't want any of their drill waste here either. Have them send it somewhere else or go waterless fracturing. Here's a thought - maybe they can sell / export it !
I would scratch that out, they would not even blink. I guess there is no loss in trying to get it past.
ODNR shows more injections wells on the eastern side of Ashtabula than on the western side. One would think the geology of east Ashtabula would be similar to PA.
I know several people in my area who are HBP with old Clinton and Rose Run wells whose leases allow for injection wells. One saving grace in my area is many parcels are only 825' wide.
If things ever pick back up, this could become a problem for us. We are close to the border, there is no local control, and there is a good deal of money to be made for allowing it.
elliemae82
has anyone that was signed with BM tried calling them to get an update
Apr 13, 2014
Adal
If a company can get $250,000 a day out of a well in Southern Ohio and $10,000 a day out of a well in Trumbull County, where do you think that they are going to drill? Not in Ashtabula County, right now. They are going to take the easy stuff first.
Apr 13, 2014
elliemae82
Wow, point well taken
Apr 13, 2014
MJ
Elliemae,
Ashtabula is squarely in the volatile oil window. It will see action - just not right away - It is not in the "low hanging fruit" area, and extraction techniques will need to be figured out. I guess patience is the word. The same is true of Trumbull, Geauga and Portage. Learn as much as you can now on sites such as this so as to be prepared when leasing starts up again. Note: There is a lot of nonsense here as well - people with agenda driven ideas and posts. Take with a "grain of salt"
Apr 13, 2014
David Perotto
Keep your eye on Enron Oi & Gas, particularly their Gonzalez, Wilson County Eagle Ford wells. They are figuring out how to extract oil from shallower strata. As this is perfected, it will come to Ashtabula. Patience will be necessary, it is not going to happen overnight.
Apr 13, 2014
Ed Ganelli
I have to agree with several of the comments below! New, improved fracing technologies will be the key to further leasing/drilling in Ashtabula County. As was stated, the profit per well for this area is just not there right now...
As part of the Magyar Group that signed about 2 years ago, this leaves me in what I feel is a really good position since there are only 3 years left on the original 5 year term of our lease. Therefore:
A) Beland must drill sometime within the next 3 years, or...
B) Beland must use the automatic 5 year renewal option in the lease (meaning another payment of $4,250 per acre) in order to continue holding the acreage under lease, or...
C) Our leases will be terminated, title to the mineral rights cleared again, and we can wait until technology has improved enough to warrant O & G companies to lease again.
Since we already got 4250 an acre, a really good lease, and time on our side, I find any of the 3 above options as fine with me! What would hurt most now would be for Beland to go ahead with a well, not do it properly, and the dud be a barely producing one. THAT would hold acreage yet pay little or nothing in royalties!
Yeah...I'm hoping for no drilling yet - at least none in the near future! ;-)
Apr 13, 2014
Adal
I listen to what CEOs say mostly on business channels. Halcon's CEO called Northern Trumbull County wells horrible to say it nicely. Enervest has bought 3 or 4 companies in Ashtabula County (AC) since around 2003. They have drilled a few test wells, they hit NGLs, they are keeping some leases in AC, and they service a Clinton well for me. I have another Clinton well leased by another company who only controls 40 acres around it down to the Clinton well. But in September 2011, it appears that they sold my Utica drilling rights to Chesapeake, and then the word leaked out to everyone.
Apr 15, 2014
Adal
This is what Enervest's CEO Walker said at a gas / oil conference last fall.
The volatile oil EnerVest is exploring in the Utica refers to hydrocarbons that are in a gaseous or near-gaseous stage when trapped in a reservoir. As they are brought up to the surface, changes in temperature alter the state of these hydrocarbons and produce liquids.
"It's valuable because the price of oil is much higher than the price of natural gas and natural gas liquids," he said. However, it's much more difficult to extract oil molecules from shale than dry gas or NGLs.
Walker said his company has two test wells in the volatile window, and he believes that the rock and pressure is sufficient there to allow production. "The volatile oil window has a tremendous amount of oil in place, about 16 million barrels per section," he reported. "We just haven't scientifically figured how to get it out yet. Our industry is a very high-tech industry and we will learn how to do that."
The EnerVest CEO said he's confident the volatile oil window code could be cracked within two years. "I'm optimistic. I think that if we had to say what part of the Utica has the most upside potential, it might be the volatile oil window."
But that's probably not the case with the "black" oil deposits that border the volatile oil window, Walker said. "It's thermally immature."
Still, as technology improves, so does the potential of tapping black oil, Walker said, reminding the audience that 10 years ago, engineers thought it impossible to extract natural gas and natural gas liquids from shale.
Apr 15, 2014
Adal
Three townships were targeted in 2008, Williamsfield, Andover, and Richmond. In January 2011, Chesapeake entered the picture buying leases mostly in those townships. In September 2011, they appear to have bought leases in most townships from Enervest. The CEO has said that they are trying to sell Ashtabula County leases, no takers yet. Some of those 5 year 2008 leases are expiring. Chesapeake is leasing, extending, and releasing a few leases. So when Chesapeake, Enervest, and BP talk, I'm listening.
Apr 26, 2014
Adal
The two biggest are Williamsfield and Richmond in the last year. I know a landowner in Andover Township, his 5 year lease is up this summer, was bought by Chesapeake, I'll try to find out his options.
Apr 26, 2014
Adal
BP just announced during its first quarter report that they are pulling out and selling Trumbull County leases. 20 barrels of oil a day isn't good enough for them.
Apr 29, 2014
Adal
BP America is planning to sell off 105,000 leasehold acres it owns in the Mahoning Valley as part of its exit strategy in the Utica shale, a company spokesman says.
"Just because this play doesn't fit in our BP portfolio doesn't mean it's a busted play," said Curtis Thomas, BP Ohio's director of government and public affairs. "It doesn't mean that it's not a perfect play for another oil and gas operator."
BP announced this morning that poor returns from its appraisal well program has caused it to discontinue investment in the northern tier of the Utica shale, especially in Trumbull County, where the company has drilled eight wells.
Apr 29, 2014
Dan
Looks like the winners are the ones that took the BP money and ignored the others that cried wait , wait for a better offer. I don't expect anything big in my life time.
Apr 29, 2014
Bryan
Looks like a bust here in south county as well since there are no plans of drilling anytime soon...
Apr 29, 2014
Werner Kostendt
Will BP be able to sell or will their leases just run out?
Apr 29, 2014
Adal
"Just because this play doesn't fit in our BP portfolio doesn't mean it's a busted play," said Curtis Thomas, BP Ohio's director of government and public affairs. "It doesn't mean that it's not a perfect play for another oil and gas operator."
BP announced this morning that poor returns from its appraisal well program has caused it to discontinue investment in the northern tier of the Utica shale, especially in Trumbull County, where the company has drilled eight wells.
Thomas says that at present, the Utica does not meet the corporation's investment criteria and plans to market its Utica assets for sale. The company holds 84,000 acres in Trumbull County and another 11,000 or so acres in neighboring counties in northeastern Ohio.
"Different companies have different criteria," Thomas said. "So, we hope there will be another company that will come in and they'll look at the property, look at the assets and they'll say that this fits their portfolio."
Thomas emphasizes that BP is proud of the investments it's made in the community, including donations to the region's educational programs. "We've tried to be a good neighbor while we were here," Thomas said. "We're proud of the investments that we made."
BP entered the Utica market two years ago when it signed about 1,900 landowners to oil and gas leases encompassing 84,000 acres in Trumbull County. These leases included bonuses of $3,600 per acre to landowners and 17.5% royalties on production.
But production at five test wells coordinated by BP in the county have, at best, proved anemic.
According to fourth-quarter production reports issued Friday by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, BP drilled four wells in Trumbull County, and its appraisal partner, Brammer Engineering, drilled one well.
The most productive of these wells is the Lennington well in Johnston Township, ODNR reports. That well produced 1,889 barrels of oil and 20,316 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas, or Mcf over a 92-day period. BP's Buckeye well in Hartford Township produced 378 barrels of oil and 20,322 Mcf of gas during a 75-day period; BP's Zerovich well in Mecca Township produced 746 barrels of oil and just 2,884 Mcf of natural gas over 30 days; and its Jewett well in Johnston Township reported no production results.
A fifth well drilled by Brammer Engineering -- the Morrison well in Mecca Township – produced 1,078 barrels of oil 9,487 Mcf of natural gas.
The average oil production per well across the Utica stood at 4,089 barrels of oil over a 65-day period. Average gas production stood at 122,514 Mcf, ODNR reported.
Apr 29, 2014
Adal
Part 2.
Alan Wenger, a principal at the Harrington, Hoppe & Mitchell, who coordinates the law firm's oil and gas program, helped negotiate the BP deal and it's possible those leases could be reassigned, he says.
"There still could be development from other companies," Wenger tells The Business Journal. "I think they'll market the land and assign the leases."
For example, an energy company might find a way to develop the acreage with less expense and investment, and thus realize more profits in the northern tier of the Utica.
"It's a matter of economic viability," Wenger says. "Companies might be able to develop these more cheaply."
Plus, as technology and drilling techniques improve, this section of the Utica shale can become more viable. "As this comes along, there might be other opportunities," Wenger says.
Most of the lease bonuses have been paid out, but there might be a handful that encountered title issues, which remain unresolved, Wenger says.
The leases include a five-year term with an option to renew and were signed in 2012, Wenger notes. "Those parcels are still under lease and could be developed per the terms of the leases."
Clearly, most of the interest in the Utica shale has shifted from the northern section to counties in the south, where oil and gas production is robust.
Apr 29, 2014
frank smith
Well I guess leases are now back to $10 per/ac.
Apr 30, 2014
Joseph-Ohio
No.
Not our lands.
Apr 30, 2014
Ronaround
Agreed..We cleaned our old leases and now were back to 10-100 dollar lease. Better yet.How about forced pooling from our state and representives...
Apr 30, 2014
Joseph-Ohio
Forced Pooling / Forced Unitization is a true concern.
Especially considering CHK and EV leaseholds which are probably pre-Utica PP Tailgate Class and also lands HBP.
Good luck to all Ashtabula County landowners.
Apr 30, 2014
Joseph-Ohio
http://gomarcellusshale.com/forum/topics/the-secret-of-old-hbp-leases
I think this important to read for those of us in Ashtabula County.
Pertains to HBP and older small unit size leases.
May 25, 2014
elliemae82
I still know people who have not cleaned up their old leases and don't receive any royalties. Not because they don't want to but they don't have the money. At what point should one bite the bullet and just take on more debt? Or is it best to wait til some interest? Anyone like to comment?
Aug 10, 2014
james mcmeechan
It depends on how you intend to lease your property. If you plan on waiting until a company knocks on your door and wants your land I wouldn't do anything, a company that wants your land will work out the problems. If your plans include joining a land group that says all or nothing, you will want your old leases cleaned up. Oil companies will use title defects to weed out parcels they don't want.
With today's climate, I could not justify taking on debt to clear up title defects. One can do it themselves for less than $100.00 per lease. It takes 90 days to clear a lease, clear one lease every 90 days. It will cut into the beer allowance, but it can be done. At the rate we are going you will have plenty of time.
Aug 12, 2014
Joseph-Ohio
James M.,
Seems to me you've 'cracked the code' and have things pretty well figured out.
Sounds like good advice to me.
Hoping things pick up for us sooner than later.
Good luck to all of us.
Aug 12, 2014
Helen
I would be interested on how to do this myself... We have 10 old leases on our Ashtabula property, We had an attorney quote $1000.00 per lease to clean them up. To say the least they are still there. Didn't want to spend $10,000.00 we don't have, until we knew something was about to happen in our area.
Aug 12, 2014
Jim Janson
$10,000 to clear land that showed 10 leases filed on it is way too high unless each lease is still active (very unlikely). $100 per lease to get them forfeited is unrealistically low, unless each lease had zero assignments or unitizations and was never active (also unlikely).
Getting a release from a lessee is very cheap but you have to do a leasehold examination at the courthouse, or have someone do it for you, to make sure you are getting the release from the right entity, otherwise it could be worthless.
Filing forfeiture affidavits costs less than $100 for the actual filings, but all the work that is necessary to make sure they are done correctly can cost a lot more than that, unless you do it yourself. Most people are not comfortable doing it themselves because if anything is done the least bit wrong then the affidavits have no effect and the lease isn't cleared.
But it is certainly true that there's no hurry to get this done right now.
Aug 12, 2014
Joseph-Ohio
Unfortunate how slow things are going.
Would like to see things pick up.
Don't think I'm alone in that regard.
Aug 12, 2014
james mcmeechan
Helen,
I should have mentioned in my previous post, the first thing you should do is contact the companies and request a release. This process requires that you know who owns the lease at this time, and you have a way to call or mail them. If you have that contact them and request a release. Don't expect a lot of success, I only had 1 out of 6 send a release, but it is at no cost except to file it one time.
The next step is to use ORC 5301.332 notice of forfeiture. I posted my experience with it, and it turned into a pretty good discussion on the process. The hardest part for me was searching the records. Don't let searching the records stop you. At first I found it very confusing, but the people at the recorder's office are great.
Aug 12, 2014
Helen
Thanks for the info. I will try to get the releases myself.
Aug 12, 2014
elliemae82
Yes, Great information. Thanks
Aug 12, 2014
Joseph-Ohio
http://gomarcellusshale.com/forum/topics/utica-oil-window-news-from...
Above a link to a post on the General Forum pages that I think important to us in Ashtabula County.
Aug 19, 2014
Joseph-Ohio
http://gomarcellusshale.com/forum/topics/good-news-up-north-utica
Another link to a General Forum post that I think important to us in Ashtabula County.
Aug 19, 2014
Joseph-Ohio
Another link to a post on the General Forum pages rhat I think could be important to all of us in Ashtabula County.
Aug 22, 2014
Joseph-Ohio
http://gomarcellusshale.com/forum/topics/hope-for-the-ohio-oil-window
Ashtabula County Utica development 'on hold' per politicos and as storied in the Star Beacon.
Nov 11, 2014
Joseph-Ohio
A link to another what I believe to be significant discussion on the General Forum pages.
Good luck to all.
Nov 25, 2014
james mcmeechan
When I look over the fence at the gasoline refiner's lawn it seems much greener than mine.
A quick online check showed oil, in June, at 105 per barrel, and gasoline, in June, at 3.68 per gallon.
A look at the top of this site shows oil at 52.00 per barrel, but the price for gas today in Orwell is 2.27 per gallon. The price per barrel of oil today is roughly 1/2 of what it was in June. One might think the price of gasoline would follow and be roughly 1.84 per gallon. I realize that not all of a refiner's cost fluctuate with the price of oil, and are fixed. I just believe they would be hard pressed to justify a 43 cent per gallon difference.
Another example, when oil was 150.00 a barrel gas was 4.00 a gallon. Oil today is 1/3 of that price, but gas is not even close to 1.33 per gallon. If you work the numbers the opposite way and oil returns to 150 a barrel gas would be 6.81 per gallon. These are very rough numbers, but I think it shows we are getting the soiled end of the stick.
Feb 9, 2015
Joseph-Ohio
Soiled is about the most polite word I can think of as well james.
Feb 9, 2015
Joseph-Ohio
May 6, 2015
james mcmeechan
For those who might be interested. The Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners will be having a meeting on current oil and gas legislation. The meeting will be in the commissioner's conference room at the old court house in Jefferson 2nd floor at 11:00 am July 20. People attending are asked to rsvp to llhawkins@ashtabulacounty.us, or phone 440-576-3745.
Jul 19, 2015
Joseph-Ohio
Jul 19, 2015
Joseph-Ohio
Jul 19, 2015
Ronaround
Well I hope this discussion is not being about more Regs and rules to manage our properties. It Cost me plenty to remove the prior oil guy and no one ponied up to help pay that.
Jul 20, 2015
Joseph-Ohio
Take the link to a Trumbull County discussion for some current info on relatively recent lease and well activity there.
EV - CGAS - the three (3) BP wells sold - assignments - HBP leases etc.
From reading the Ashtabula County Recorder's pages seems CGAS is also BIG in Ashtabula County.
Any current similar actvities Ashtabula County members care to share ?
Oct 30, 2015
elliemae82
http://www.ohio.com/blogs/drilling/ohio-utica-shale-1.291290/ashtab...
From July but found interesting.
Oct 31, 2015
elliemae82
I hope Ashtabula county doesn't become a dumping grounds for other states. Anyone know why EPA doesn't allow injection wells in PA? Seems like if they can drill a well they should deal with the waste.
Oct 31, 2015
Joseph-Ohio
Re.: PA having their own disposal wells.
Yup.
They (PA) ought to dispose of their own drilling waste in their own State.
We're on the same bus again elliemae82.
Oct 31, 2015
james mcmeechan
This question was asked at the July meeting in Jefferson. It was stated that their geology was not ideal for disposal wells. I have no way of knowing if that statement is true, or self serving.
I know every lease offered to me over the years had the right to injection wells included in the wording. One can only wonder how many landowners that are hbp have already signed up for an injection well.
Oct 31, 2015
Joseph-Ohio
News to me.
How about adding a no injection well clause ?
Did you try that on any of your leases ?
Can't confirm or deny the part about PA's geology being unsuitable for injection wells - so is ours because we don't want any of their drill waste here either. Have them send it somewhere else or go waterless fracturing. Here's a thought - maybe they can sell / export it !
Oct 31, 2015
james mcmeechan
I would scratch that out, they would not even blink. I guess there is no loss in trying to get it past.
ODNR shows more injections wells on the eastern side of Ashtabula than on the western side. One would think the geology of east Ashtabula would be similar to PA.
I know several people in my area who are HBP with old Clinton and Rose Run wells whose leases allow for injection wells. One saving grace in my area is many parcels are only 825' wide.
If things ever pick back up, this could become a problem for us. We are close to the border, there is no local control, and there is a good deal of money to be made for allowing it.
Oct 31, 2015