Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Finnbear on October 5, 2011 at 11:12am

Talisman was looking at a group in OH but recently bowed out saying they could not compete at this level. It is very possible they are cash strapped after leasing a lot of ground. I would not be surprised to see them assign a partial interest of their current leaseholds to another operator in order to rustle up cash to fuel more leasing and/or drilling in the near future.

Permalink Reply by jack brunner on October 14, 2011 at 6:58am

I am or was, in the Friendsville group from Susquehanna county. Our group signed with Fortuna which I guess is now Talisman. (Although I never got notice of this). We signed for $5500.oo per acre and 15%. They gave us an option to take half the bonus money in Dec of 2009 and the rest in Jan of 2010. For tax purposes. I choose to take it all at once just because I thought the company may go belly up before I got a payment. My accountant says it worked out pretty close no matter how I did it. But that's my circumstances.

Being that I don't live in Pa. I really haven't paid much attention since we signed our lease with them. I'm just now wondering about the royalties etc. I can't find anything about them drilling in Susquehanna county. So I'm in limbo.

Anyone else know what's going on? Anybody from that group that can tell me what's up?

Permalink Reply by milton nelson weir on October 14, 2011 at 7:12am

Jack,

We received a lower bonus money payment and a larger royalty payment from Talisman.  No payment possible until 2012 because of budgetary constraints.  Thanks for your post.  Good luck.

Permalink Reply by Finnbear on October 14, 2011 at 8:02am

That pretty much confirms my thoughts. They may possibly have a group of wells coming into production then too. Either through assigning an interest(joint venture) or from new production, it appears they are waiting on a new revenue stream.

Permalink Reply by Finnbear on October 14, 2011 at 7:47am

I don't believe there is any danger of Talisman going belly up.Maybe there was with Fortuna and that is why they sold out - I don't know. I think Talisman has used most of their working capital obtaining leases and trying to drill enough to hold those leases. I would not be surprised for them to announce some sort of joint venture and partner up with some other energy company who is flush with cash and needs to invest it so they don't have to pay it out in taxes.that would allow them to develop the leasehold with someone else's money and hold at least a partial interest in all the land they have under lease.

Permalink Reply by grayhairedgrandpa on October 19, 2011 at 3:50am

A few comments...

(1) The Friendsville lease is $5500/acre and 20%  (not 15%) royalty.

(2) Unless you were in the highest of tax brackets, you would have been better off splitting your bonus payments across 2 years for tax purposes. The more money that you keep out of the higher tax brackets the better.

(3) The "name change" from Fortuna to Talisman USA was well-publicized. The parent company Talisman Energy, Inc (TLM) is rated 5-stars (the highest) by Morningstar. Little chance of the company going "belly up, although it is a bit strapped for cash at this point in time. 

(4) There is a plethora of information on the internet regarding drilling in Susquehanna County. If you prefer printed paper, I would contact The Daily Review in Towanda, PA for a subscription to "Northeast Driller"...it will keep you up-to-date.

Permalink Reply by jack brunner on October 19, 2011 at 5:07am

I guess I'll have to re-read my lease. I thought it was 15%.  Do you know what happened to the Friendsville group? Did it disban?

I did ask my accountant to fiqure out both ways for tax purposes and she said it would not be that significant a difference in taxes either way I took it. All at once or split over two years. So, I took it all at once. I had to rely on a proffesional since I had no idea which way to go. And at that time, not knowing about the company called "fortuna" I had to make an educated guess with her help. 

The name change may have been well publicized, but I didn't recieve any correspondence from them and since I don't live in that area I didn't read about it in your local papers. I've been away for a year or so and I had limited access to the internet. I just started reading it recently, but I will subscribe to the Notheast Driller. Thanks for that. Still it concerns me that I didn't recieve anything from Talisman stating that they bought out fortuna.

I was hoping this is where the Friendsville group would be helping out. It may be time to console with an attorney to allieviate my fears.

Jack

Permalink Reply by grayhairedgrandpa on October 20, 2011 at 10:22am

As I mentioned in my previous reply to you, it was a name change from Fortuna to Talisman USA by Talisman Energy, Inc. No one was "bought out". I'm surprised your accountant did not help you out with identifying Talisman Energy as the parent of Fortuna.

As far as I know, the Friendsville Group (FG) is no longer active after it secured the ground-breaking lease for its members. However, several FG members have used the services of Warren Trainor, who was the attorney negotiating the FG lease.

 

Permalink Reply by jack brunner on October 21, 2011 at 1:43am

Oh! Name change? I should read more carefully.  I stand corrected.  Thank you.

 We discussed briefly where the money was coming from. But, she was only interested in how I wanted to pay taxes on it, and if I trusted that the money would be there for the 2nd paymen,t if I split it into two years. In my lack of knowledge, confidence and skepticism, I chose it all at once. She did fiqure it both ways and the difference in tax was acceptable to us. So I live with that.

Also. Thanks for the info on the FG and the attorney.

Permalink Reply by melissa humphrey on May 4, 2012 at 10:31pm

Be aware, I am forgetting the exact terms, but a contract like this is similar to a RE deed. Unitl the lessee pays or signs the lease, they can backout.

4500 is great in this era. I know of some 2000 offers in even a better area than you.

Good luck

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