Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by myles fetterhoff on March 5, 2012 at 5:26am

please give this guy a call see what he can do for you. steve walton 4123381128 he give down and dirty on the lease for nothing.  hope this helps

Permalink Reply by Jim Litwinowicz on March 5, 2012 at 3:37pm

There is a meeting on Tuesday evening, March 6th, at the Franklin Quality Inn at 6:30 PM  Come one and all to ask all the questions you want.

Several of the attorneys just came back from the NAPE expo in Houston and have several  E & P companies that are very interested in both Venango and Mercer Counties. We are expecting thins to move pretty fast so come to see what is going on.

Permalink Reply by James Brink, Esq. on March 6, 2012 at 2:26am

Time for full disclosure, Jim.  Tell the folks that your group, including the Washington PA lawyers, already had a lease provided by Hilcorp before they started having meetings in Mercer County.  Then, Hilcorp paid the lawyers and Co-Exprise directly.  So, therefore, are you not really acting as landmen for Hilcorp?  And, if you are acting as landme, then what legal duty do you owe to the folks who have signed up through you?  That is, if one of the landowners later had an issue against Hilcorp, how could the Washington PA lawyers act on their behalf?

Permalink Reply by myles fetterhoff on March 6, 2012 at 3:25am

good job jim. I have people signed up with this group and they took everything to the center of the earth.  I know they take a huge fee out of the bonus for the service.

Permalink Reply by myles fetterhoff on March 6, 2012 at 3:28am

We have a northwestern pa landowners group meeting in Cochranton saturday March 10,  2012 at 100pm at the Cochranton Firehall.  We don't want 6 percent of the bonus money.  It's education meeting and then you can choose who best for your property. 

Permalink Reply by Jim Litwinowicz on March 6, 2012 at 3:33am

Mr Brink;  you need to get your facts straight before spouting off. The Mt Jackson group worked with the Washington law firm for a year and a half, putting the data out to 180 companies across the globe, and then negotiating seriously  with at least nine different companies. Part of the group in Beaver Co signed leases with Chesepeake in August and again in Oct, I think it was. The remaining part of group was presented three different solid offers and voted to take the Hilcorp offer in late August. At that time the group included substantial land in Mercer and Lawrence Counties.There was even a small segment that signed a deal with Range.

An agreement was reached to allow Co-eXprise and the law firm to seek additional landowners that wanted to sign the same lease after the mass signing for members of the Mt Jackson group. Hilcorp had a very defined target area that only had a small portion of Mercer County. As time went by, other companies increased their offers to the point that the Hilcorp offer was no longer competitive. Instead of blindly turning over parcels to Hilcorp, we then aggregated landowners without leasing them until we had enough to convince Hilcorp to increase their offer to again be the best deal for landowners. Hardly the actions of a landman.

Additionally, all the current meetings are designed to aggregate another large group of landowners to market their rights to the highest/best bidder. While Hilcorp may decide to participate, there are at least four other companies that have expressed a desire to bid. Both Co-X and MoPo Law had booths at the NAPE expo and presented all their current projects to hundreds of E & P's   Several have been in contact since. As the offers are better refined, the best two or three will be presented to the group and the group will decide which they prefer. Again, not the typical actions of a landman.

Now, since you have such a strong desire for full disclosure, how about some yourself? Are you not a partner with another attorney in Shaleadvice? If so, doesn't this mean you are a competitor of Co-X? If so, how many different companies have your landowners in Mercer, Lawrence, and Venango Counties signed leases with? Has Shaleadvice members signed with companies other than Shell?

I have always been fully open about my relationships with Co-X here so that people know that I have do have biases, unlike others on this site. And in my dealings with landowners, I have told people that Co-X may not be the best opportunity for them. All depends on their situation.

Permalink Reply by myles fetterhoff on March 6, 2012 at 4:17am

The above companies want 6 percent bonus to start they say big acre not desirable, then take credit for county wide leases.  My friend from airforce got a mercer lease 17.5 percecent and have them  they take back 6 percent for the fee now back at the 11.5 percent royalties.  How is this fair your now below state minium of 12.5.  Farm down in nicolasville 600 acres just signed for 1.9 million vertical lease why would yould give 6 percent to someone.  

Permalink Reply by rex roae on March 7, 2012 at 2:19am

Miles, I believe that 6% charge would mean they would pay 1.05% (17.5 x .06) which would leave your friend with a 16.45% lease rate.  

For myself, I could care less what they would charge if they got me a better deal than what I could get by myself or in a small owners group and I believe they(Co-X) has a proven track record of getting deals done.  I leave myself open to all scenarios and of course I'd prefer to not pay anything but I'm enough of a businessman to know sometimes you gotta pay a little to get a little bit more.

Incidentally Miles, I wasn't able to attend your last landowners meeting.  My wife and me would like to come to the next one if you can let me know when and where it is.

Permalink Reply by myles fetterhoff on March 7, 2012 at 3:36am

Cochranton 1-3 pm march 10, 2012 at the firehall.  did you see the other discussion by the attorney if they take 250.00 per acrer.  The lease on 100 acres would be 25,000 dollars Wow!   If this  don't work let me know! There areother meetings! Some of the people putting on the leasing were ask a question what if you don't get me leased!  The presentor told them well you still have to pay my percentage.  This was a comment made to my friend!  What formation are they leasing with all the companies!  Pa has much shallower formation proving to be of great interests in pa and ohio.

Permalink Reply by Jim Litwinowicz on March 14, 2012 at 3:10pm

Myles;  Co-X states repeatedly at all their meetings that there is no charge whatsoever if the landowner does not get paid.  This means one can join the group, come to all the meetings, ask attorneys present questions about leasing and to go over an existing leases, vote on  what offer they want to accept, sign a lease, get help clearing title if needed and possible, and get not a single penny charged if they do not receive payment for any reason, including title defect or HBP.  Can your group members do all that and not be charged a penny if they do not get paid?

Permalink Reply by Jim Litwinowicz on March 14, 2012 at 2:55pm

Rex;  The 6% is from the bonus not the royalty. For a period they were charging a 5% fee of the royalty received so that a 17% royalty would them become a 16.15% and Co-X receiving .85%   for the first five years. Co-X would conduct random audits during this time period to ensure that both they and the landowner was royalties that were correctly calculated.

They are no  longer charging any fee from the royalty. Current fees are 6% from the bonus the first time only. If a company exercises the option to renew for a second five years, the landowner will receive the entire bonus payment with no fee deducted.

The 6% fee s until a deal is reached on a new lease. Anyone joining a group after a deal is reached will assessed a fe of 8% of the bonus.

Hope that clears things up.

Permalink Reply by myles fetterhoff on March 15, 2012 at 2:55am

You don't need anyone to audit the royalties and the production dropps off after five years so you get 250 per acre then you take money for five years! wow!

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