Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by gasoholic on December 14, 2010 at 3:48pm

Randolph county is an excellent prospect for drilling. Randolph is listed as one of the counties in ''Areas of Greatest Potential'' in WV. Infrastructure is the big holdup there. Much of the county has been leased up. Marathon applied for the first horizontal on the western side alone with EQT now having applied for 20+ horizontal permits near Pickens / Helvitia.  A major pipeline is near these proposed wells. It may take some time for things to pick up in parts of the county. Also, will companies want to let so many leases expire? Tell your father to be patient and never trust the landman. Get everything in writing and never just take their word for anything. With people not willing to offer up any information, it's hard to say what the highest offer has been. I can tell you that some have been offer over $1,500 per acre and 16%. Look for these numbers to increase over time.

Permalink Reply by Patty Isenhour on December 14, 2010 at 4:47pm

Thanks so much for your response- I am having a weird kind of response to the people I have talked to at Chesapeake & Kenyon, as well as another Chesapeake "representative". They are kind of clamming up and passing the buck when I mention the W.V. property.My Uncle also owns adjoining property to this land. He has been doing some research and was told by Chesapeake that this land was "out of their realm". What does that mean?!-- - The property I signed the lease on, is not where I live,it is hunting ground. I received a call from Chesapeake a couple weeks ago about the property that I live on and although I had no intention of leasing this property,I decided to "play dumb" and ask some questions--He told me that it is going to happen & if I signed a lease or not ,they will still frack my land (4 acres)from another drilling point. Offered me 400 an acre & 8%. Yeah right-I was born at night/not last night-OOPs maybe thats why he got so snotty w/me-There is no way I would ever let them compromise my home & my water supply- Is it true that they can just rape my land like that?

Permalink Reply by gasoholic on December 14, 2010 at 5:25pm

I wouldn't worry about Chk and their ''realm''. There are other companies who may have leased up the acreage around Harman. When the time is right, the companies will come calling.

I recently read an article where offers in parts of Ohio are at $1,500 per acre. The Utica Shale is shaping up to be a big deal, both oil and gas. You will need to get more local info. on Ohio laws concerning drilling and minimum royalties. If only 4 acres,  fracking, if it is going to mess with your water supply will probably happen anyway. But very unlikely. I know in WV they can drill and run the horizontal leg right next to adjoining acreage but cannot cross over. How far the frack process travels is the big question. You can get a non surface agreement, but with 4 acres they most likely will not drill on you but under you. Another question is, if you do not sign and you believe the have fracked and taken you minerals, will you be able to prove it. This should be discussed with a good oil and gas lawyer. Best to be checking Ohio oil and gas laws and rules.

Permalink Reply by Robert L. Fry on December 22, 2010 at 2:55am

Randolph County is also the centroid of the Google-funded discovery of the largest geothermal hotspot east of the Mississippi.; It has the potential of doubling the electricity generation of WV state over coal w/ NO CARBON RELEASED... well not much anyway. It was discovered through bottom-well temperature reading in deeper Marcellus wells. The fact that Marcellus shale is present and that the geothermal anomaly is there as well is not a coincidence owing to common ancient geology.

Geothermal conversion is still immature in the US ( we are way behind other countries like Australia). Otherwise, we'd have geothermal landsmen knocking at our doors wanting the rights to the layer of earth well below even the Utica shale which is another ~2000 below the Marcellus. However, stay tuned since this will likely happen some time in the future.