Barnett Shale

Catching up to Arlington's Extended Oaks: $17k

Thanks to the readers who alerted us to the gas lease deal that Northwest Arlington's Extended Oaks neighborhoods have struck with Axia Land Services, which is offering leases in the area on behalf of Chesapeake Energy. The terms: $17,000-per-acre, 25 percent net royalty, and three-year term. The neighborhood gas committee has been fielding questions from homeowners who wonder whether this is the best deal they can get. (Click here to view the Extended Oaks map and see a copy of the lease).

"Could better offers appear in the future? Yes," the committee says on its web site. But the committee feels it's negotiated its best deal, and "no further negotiations are planned."

Extended Oaks' target area is Randol Mill/Westwood on the north, Fielder Road on the east, Division on the south, and Crowley Road on the west. Click here to read our previous posts on the Extended Oaks.

-- Scott Nishimura

FWCanDo's Young unhappy with Meadowbrook deal

Don Young, head of FWCanDo (Fort Worth Citizens Against Neighborhood Drilling Ordinance), isn't happy with the Greater Meadowbrook Mineral Leasing Task Force's decision to recommend a gas lease deal with XTO Energy.

He notes FWCanDo's genesis was in the Meadowbrook area of east Fort Worth. "Eastsiders were informed early on about environmental and safety tradeoffs that erase much of the expected windfall," he writes on FWCanDo's blog. "We pulled back the veils on corrupt elected officials and their industry-friendly ordinance. We scoffed at hte misleaing language of industry ad campaigns. We questioned the ethical lapses of our daily newspaper. We knew about the risk that gas drilling posed to our neighborhood integrity."

For these reasons, he writes he expected the Meadowbrook task force to tell any interested gas companies to "take their gas wells and shove 'em." Click here to visit Young's blog.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photo: Young at a 2005 protest in east Fort Worth)

Is Chesapeake going to turn the lights back on?

On with the two really important questions of the day: Is Chesapeake Energy going to rename the Pier 1 building?

Yes, says Julie Wilson, the company's vice president of corporate development.

What about the lighted crown, which Pier 1 shut down to save on electricity costs? Is Chesapeake going to turn the lights back on?

Sounds like it. "Keep your eyes on the skies," Wilson hinted.

Mayor Mike Moncrief may have shed some light on this critical question in a brief statement he made after today's announcment that Chesapeake's going to buy the Pier 1 headquarters building and move its Barnett Shale operations there.

"This is an enormous committment on the part of Chesapeake, and it confirms the company's long-term strategy to remain in our city as a leading producer of natural gas in North Texas and beyond," the mayor said. "This agreement will also allow Pier 1 to remain focused on its operations as the largest retailer of imported home furnishings and decor in North America."

And then this kicker on Moncrief's statement:

"We're glad that the well-known beacon of light from this beautiful structure will continue to illuminate our skyline for many years to come."

Hmm.

-- Jim Fuquay and Scott Nishimura

Need to catch up on your reading about the Chesapeake-Pier 1 headquarters purchase? Here's everything we published in the print edition:

Chesapeake agrees to buy Pier 1 headquarters for $104 million

Chesapeake working hard to raise public profile in Tarrant County

Why Pier 1 decided to sell

Editorial: Chesapeake deal is great news for Fort Worth

Mitch Schnurman column: Chesapeake deal start of even bigger things

Bigger than expected

The Barnett Shale is booming much larger than even some of the most optimistic projections have said.

The country's hottest natural-gas play grew by more than half in one year, whereas economist Ray Perryman projected annual growth of only a 19 percent annual growth. Another amazing statistic is that the economic significance of the Barnett Shale is like taking 8 percent of the North Texas economy and dropping it right on top for extra cash, Perryman said.

Consider some of the other stats from the Waco-based economist's latest Barnett Shale study:

• $8.2 billion in economic output for 2007, up 58 percent from the $5.2 billion in 2006
• 83,823 jobs somehow tied in to the Barnett Shale in 2007, up 51 percent from the 55,385 jobs in 2006

And here are PDFs of his studies:

Download 2008_Summary.pdf

Download 2008_Report.pdf

Download Barnett_Shale_Impact_Study.pdf

-David

A new water source?

Fountain Quail Resources, the Canadian company that has been working on recycling water used in the Barnett Shale, has signed a deal to buy treated wastewater from the city of Weatherford. The company says in a news release that the new source of water, combined with its existing recycling plants, ought to provide enough water to fracture 150 to 180 wells per year.

Fountain Quail had previously announced plans to buy water from the Brazos_River_Authority, and also has been working with Devon Energy and other producers to recycle_water from gas sites.

Look for water use to be a continuing topic as the Barnett Shale drilling boom continues.

-- Mike Lee

Evans' view

Former Commerce Secretary Don Evans (that's a picture of a picture of him) was the keynote speaker at the Barnett Shale Expo luncheon today at the Fort Worth Convention Center arena. Evans, now the non-executive chairman of Energy Future Holdings (formerly TXU Corp.), made a persuasive case that inexpensive, clean-burning energy is the world's ticket out of poverty.

At the beginning of his talk, he was talking about the general wonderfulness of the Barnett Shale, and he gave these examples: "You're seeing drilling rigs in your backyards; you're seeing pipelines go through neighborhoods."

Definitely an oilman.

-- Richard Stubbe

Get tips for your 'hood at this weekend's Expo

The annual Barnett Shale Expo is on Saturday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Fort Worth Convention Center. It''s free, and sessions include tips for your organizing your neighborhood, "Mineral Rights 101," energy industry careers, understanding pipelines and water use in the Barnett Shale, and taxes on royalties. Title sponsors are Devon Energy, Encana, XTO Energy, and the Star-Telegram.

-- Scott Nishimura

Chesapeake donates $1 million to United Way

Chesapeake Energy has pledged $1 million to the United Way of Metropolitan Tarrant County, kicking off the first-ever Barnett Shale Endowment Fund. UPDATE: Click here to read the full Star-Telegram story.

The United Way is not only looking for other energy companies to donate, but also homeowners drawing cash from the leasing of their mineral rights, said Nancy O'Malley, spokeswoman for the group.

Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake announced the donation, which will be paid in roughly $200,000 annual payments over five years, this evening at the opening of the new headquarters for United Way. The non-profit just moved into the Mercado development on Main Street just north of downtown Fort Worth.

United Way plans to spend 5% of the value of the fund annually and keep the rest to build interest income. United Way's first distribution of the fund is expected by April 2009, O'Malley said.

While this is not the first large donation from a deep-pocketed energy company getting rich off the Barnett Shale, it is considered to be the largest natural-gas-related donation for the United Way's Fort Worth office.

Examples of other donations thanks to the Barnett Shale:

• In June 2007, Chesapeake announced a total pledge of $3.75 million for scholarships to students in Fort Worth and Dallas.
• For the past three years, Fort Worth-based XTO Energy has been a big benefactor at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, buying the Grand Champion steer each time. The company has also been big in buying up and redeveloping property in downtown Fort Worth. The company has a total seven buildings and a parking garage in downtown, imploded another one and is redeveloping a building in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
• Devon Energy gave $3 million to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History building project in 2007 and was the lead donor in the Fort Worth Police and Firefighters Memorial Project with a $200,000 gift last year. The Oklahoma City-based company, the largest player in the Barnett Shale, gave another $100,000 to the North Texas High School Rodeo Association last year. Several Barnett Shale players were major founding donors to the Science Museum's capital campaign.
• Here's a story from S-T reporter Sarah Bahari on how corporate sponsorship of charitable organizations is tightening, but Chesapeake says it still gives a lot.

-- David Wethe

(Photo: United Way of Tarrant County moves to new headquarters in Mercado building, north Fort Worth, in January)

XTO hauls out big bucks -- $500,000 -- for YMCA

Barnett Shale money continues to flow into local charities.

XTO Energy -- hours ahead of another major philanthropic announcement expected this evening in Fort Worth charity circles -- has just announced it's donating $500,000 to help refurbish the Amon Carter Jr. Downtown YMCA and establish the XTO Energy Wellness Center at the Y. UPDATE: Click here to read the full story.

The second announcement is expected just before 6 p.m.

XTO's gift brings the Y within $150,000 of its original $2.5 million goal for refurbishing the Y, said Tony Shuman, president and CEO of the YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth. The total project cost has since risen to $2.9 million.

Planned renovations include the relocation of a fitness center -- to be called the XTO Energy Wellness Center with 6,700 square feet of cardio and strength training -- to the first floor from the third. Additional first-floor renovations will include an exercise class studio, youth wellness center, and expanded "interactive child watch area." The first-floor lobby will be redesigned as a welcome center and cafe.

The second floor will house renovated locker rooms. The third floor will be renovated to include a teen wellness center, Arts & Humanities Center, and multi-purpose space.

"Our commitment to the capital building campaign of the Downtown YMCA is an investment in more than brick and mortar," Vaughn Vennerberg, senior executive vice president of XTO, said. "We are investing in the health and well being of those who reside and work in downtown Fort Worth. The mission of the YMCA is as strong as ever. From children to adults, the recreation programs of the Y enrich our lives by remaining convenient and affordable."

Remember, stay tuned to this space for more news at exactly 5:45 p.m.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photos: Downtown Y)

Dallas law firms invite reports of misrepresentations

It's not tough to find property owners who've struck landmen from the ol' Christmas card list. But we haven't seen any litigation yet over alleged misrepresentations in the Barnett Shale neighborhood leasing game. (If this surfaces and we overlook it here at the S-T, we're sure somebody will tip us off.)

Might that change at some point? A couple of Dallas law firms have put up a web site, soliciting reports from people who feel they've been wronged. Called barnettshalelawsuit.com, it's a joint venture of the Rasansky Law Firm and Aldous Law Firm, both personal injury specialists.

"The discovery of the Barnett Shale natural gas field offers land owners the possibility of income based on the amount of natural gas on their property," BarnettShaleLawsuit.com says. "However, some companies may deceive land owners by having them sign oil and gas leases that are unfair, duping landowners with leases that cannot be read, offering royalty payments far below market rate, and/or defrauding landowners with numerous other types of misrepresentations."

Barnettshalelawsuit.com isn't hard to find. If you forget that, just Google "Barnett Shale lawsuits," and the site pops up No. 1. The No. 3 hit is this riff at pegasusnews.com from Barnett Shale drilling hawk Don Young:

"Every night before going to bed, I always say my prayers. For the past two years, I have repeatedly petitioned the Lord...Please, Lord, let somebody in the Barnett Shale sue somebody. Why has it taken so long?"

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photo: Jeff Rasansky, courtesy of Rasansky Law Firm)