Stark County, OH

Anybody else unsure about leasing in stark county

Aamendment and Ratification of Lease

i need some answers! today, i was contacted by a chesapeake landman about an amendment-ratification of a lease on a 5 ac lot.  original lease is with mb operating co. dated  1984   .we are receiving royalties from a well on adjoining property.  amendment states that for the sum of $10.00  lessor and lessee for their mutual benefit agree to modify drilling units size . the existing unit size is aprox. 69 ac.it also mentions that they can pool or unitize.  what is best for us  or are there other things we should request. thanks for any info you may have

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    Amy Hurd Reiter

    Has anyone actually received a per acre bonus for a lease amendment? with Chesapeak? We own our mineral right but not the gas/oil rights for our 30 acres. We had a mtg. with Chesapeak today was we were given a very basic lease/amendment document to look over. How do we know what to ask for? a per acre bonus and what percentage of royalities. This was not even discussed today. We would only be 12 acres of a 1260 acres group? Any clarification would be great on this matter.

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      Jim Lawrence

      Steve, from everything I have seen and done, Chesapeake is not offering anything monetarily other than the $10. They want to modify the pooling clause to form a bigger (horizontal) unit.  Your lease from 1984 probably allows a maximum of 160 ac.  This is fine for vertical wells but horizontal wells need have a larger unitization.  I believe Chesapeake is maxing it at 1280 acres but all the wells they have drilled so far are smaller.

      Amending the old lease is a personal choice.  There are several factors to consider. 1. will you be in a unit?  2. If you don't sign the ratification will you be left out of the unit? (proposed wells have been moved to avoid parcels for several reasons).  3. what is the time frame.  

      Chesapeake has not paid anyone that has an existing lease.  There are rumors but I have spoken to a couple of mineral owners that supposedly were paid to open their lease.  A couple were but it was not Chesapeake and I don't think they will now as it will create major discourse. 

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        Amy Hurd Reiter

        Thank you Jim that is very helpful. Our land is HBP with a very old lease but still producing. Any idea what percentage we should be asking for?

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