When is close too close?

Chesapeake is drilling next to my property (I have 160 acres). When I say next to, the last trees standing at the northern edge of their pad are mine. I somewhat knew that something was going on a few months ago when my neighbor (who is unsigned) to the north of me said some company was in his lawn with GPS saying they were marking some boundaries. While checking on my property to make sure they have not damaged anything a couple of the guys working on the pad came over to talk to me and appeared surprised that they were allowed to put a pad so close someone that is not in the unit. When I contacted the company they said that all the wells on that pad will be going south (then why run GPS reading to the north?) and they had to come right to my line to get the distance they needed for their horizontals. Are there any laws about how close they can come to me? Is this something I need to worry about and if so who do I talk to? To add insult to injury not only will this probably impact the hunting on that section of my property but the piles of shit with toilet paper left by the loggers that cleared it are all over my trails. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on September 23, 2011 at 6:45am

Certainly I think you might have multiple issues.  Hunting impact is probably not one, though.

 

I'm a little unclear, but if (any of) their activity has caused litter to reach your property then I believe you are entitled to free cleanup pronto.  You need to contact Chesapeake, advise them of what's happened, and request action.  I would do so politely the first time, then escalate from there if they ignore you.

 

Without being able to see a map I'm quite unclear on the most important aspects which relate to real money.  And, indeed, absent a map what follows is little more than specualtion:

 

If all the laterals head away from your land, and do not run (for example) alongside your land, you actually might be OK.  After they drill down vertically they need many hundreds of feet to turn the bore and go horizontal.  If they are headed away from your land, by the time they turn the bore they will be quite distant from your shale.  As I said, all speculation . . . a map and lots of details could change my opinion instantly.

 

Chesapeake will not drill your land absent a lease.  However, depending on shale characteristics and specifics local to you, they might end up accessing some of your gas.  You might need to place them on notice, formally by letter, that you will consider any fracking of your shale by them a trespass (this is called "frac trespass").  Depending on your legal acumen, the assist of a lawyer could be needed to help you compose that letter;  it should be sent to Chesapeake via Registered Mail with signature required.  If they should frac your shale, even if the fracking is merely incidental to their intended target shale, obviously it is going to cost you, as your gas will be freed and will flow to their wellhead(s) without any benefit coming your way.  You don't want that to happen.

 

To be honest, I'd be surprised if Chesapeake did something like this and I'm unaware of such a thing happening elsewhere.  But I'm also unaware of pads being placed so close to unleased land, as you are reporting.  Here where I live, such a thing is not happening . . . and it's not even close.

 

But we don't have to endure Chesapeake here.  Those people like to live "on the edge" and "on the bubble", always testing the limits of propriety.  Every now and again it's necessary to slap them down and push back against their affrontery.

 

Good luck.

Permalink Reply by Mickgyver on September 23, 2011 at 6:29pm

hello this may already have been done but you may call here for legal requirements information  

 

PA Department of Environmental Protection
Bureau of Oil and Gas Management
P.O. Box 8765
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8765
Phone: 717-772-2199 Fax: 717-772-2291

Permalink Reply by Wayne Miller on September 26, 2011 at 2:47am

Here are prod unit maps of several interesting situations. Gives you some idea of what they can or think they can do creating units.

 http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31036030/Crain%20unit.pdf

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31036030/Sensinger%20unit.pdf

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31036030/Way%20North%20unit.pdf

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31036030/Behrend-Ross%20unit.pdf

The Crain and Way North units have unleased land owners almost separating parts of the unit.

The Sensinger unit is split into two non-contiguous areas and the Behrend unit consists of 4 non-contiguous areas.

 There is a lot of speculation as to what this all means, maybe they are trying to scare owners into signing a lease, waiting for the owner to die so they can deal with someone different or maybe justing ignoring those plots because of having so much area to develop that they will never recognize those acres.

Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on September 26, 2011 at 6:17am

Those are, indeed, interesting "units".  One wonders what Chesapeake is up to.

 

I have heard it asserted that naming a property into a unit can be a step, by the gas company, toward holding the lease.  I don't assert that myself because I do not know it to be the case.  One can only guess what Chesapeake has in mind here.  Whatever it is, it most likely does not favor landowners.

Permalink Reply by Wayne Miller on September 27, 2011 at 2:34am
 CHK is definitely asserting that if you are included in a unit in any amount, that (minus a Pugh clause) all your property is HBP for ever. In fact they have paid next year's shut-in royality to those owners so effected ( even some that have not been officially notified of being in a unit).
Permalink Reply by Barbara on September 27, 2011 at 7:51am
one learns what chesapeake is 'up to' when chesapeake wants one to know what it is up to.....no sooner.......for sure.
Permalink Reply by Finnbear on September 29, 2011 at 1:40am
Interesting. What I don't see here is the actual location and type of well they intend to put on each unit?
Permalink Reply by Lisa McManus on March 3, 2013 at 9:56am

Wayne - I am trying to access the units from the links above but I get a "page not found" error. I am particularly interested in the Sensinger Unit. Can I get a copy of that from you? Thanks. 

Permalink Reply by Keith on September 28, 2011 at 3:22am

The legal distance from a Horizontal is 330 feet.  So that means that any property either leased with somebody other than CHK or not leased at all must be 330 feet or greater from the lateral.  Now I can't speak for Bradford County but you should have some County or township laws saying how close they can be to any structure or water way on your property.  If these don't exist, you need to get a township ordanance approved very quickly and it shouldn't be that hard, probably 2 months.  The state law is 200 feet from any structure and 100 feet from any water way, but the county or township can make those numbers larger in an ordanance.  Also noise can be addressed.  If you live in a rural area, obviously the ambient noise is very low so in the ordanace they would have to state a minimum number (50 dcb) rather than saying in 1,000 feet from the pad it must be ambient noise.  Hope this helped.

Permalink Reply by Jonathan A Jones on September 28, 2011 at 3:31am

Keith - I was under the impression that PA did not have any laws regarding setback distance from property that the gas company did not have a lease for.  Is that not correct?

Permalink Reply by Keith on September 28, 2011 at 3:40am

I believe that is incorrect and if it is not PA law then it is a federal law.

Permalink Reply by Craig on September 28, 2011 at 4:31am

PA does have a law in effect, there is no Federal law for such spacing - it is left for the states.

 

PA law requires 330 ft from a wellhead that is a conservation well.  The problem here is that this seems to be a Marcellus well.  Marcellus wells do not technically qualify as a conservation well, so they can place the wellhead right on the property line, just like any other well that is not a conservation well - simple as that.  Nothing illegal about it - best bet would have been to lease to them - if you didnt want drilling, then done it as a non-surface and taken the cash on the front end as well as the royalty.  PA also does not have any regulation for unit size or configuration, so the oil company can locate units any way they choose, even totally surrounding an unleased property.  PA is a "rule of capture" state, so even stating that you will sue for trespass fracing is not something that is thought to be effective.  for one, it is expensive to prove, if possible at all, and then, the way the laws are worded, if the wellhead is not on the property, and the lateral does not intersect the property line, then there is no defined tresspass.  As far as I know, in PA the tresspass frac has not been tested.  In other states with greater regulation as to well location, the court tests have occured, but only if they violated the spacing regs.

 

The problem with waiting or holding out is that the development is going to happen all around you, affect your tranquility, hunting and so forth and not only do you not have contractual protections, but you are not receiving royalties from the production, although you are having to deal with the aftermath/collateral damage.

 

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