Barnett Shale

UTA wells paying off

The University of Texas at Arlington is the beneficiary of unusually strong production from six natural gas wells on its campus. The school said Monday it received a check for $528,495 from Carrizo Oil & Gas, its first royalty payment from production that started Nov. 4. The school said about 40 percent of the money will go toward undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships, with the rest to endowed faculty positions and campus improvements. Other property owners receiving royalty payments from the wells’ production include the city of Arlington, First Baptist Church of Arlington and the state of Texas. Carrizo said it issued a total of more than $675,000 in royalty checks just for November production.

For a complete report, see Tuesday's Star-Telegram.

--Jim Fuquay

Central Arlington group (CAPO) gets lease deal

The Central Arlington Property Owners group reports it has reached a lease deal with Chesapeake Energy. The terms: $26,500 lease bonus per acre, 26 percent royalty with no costs subtracted, three-year primary term, and two-year option.

Click here to visit the group's web site for information on lease signings.

Here's David Wethe's print story on the deal.

-- Scott Nishimura

North Central (Arlington) Group forms

A new group of property owners has emerged in the middle of Arlington, calling itself the North Central Group.

The group's boundaries are Road to Six Flags on the north, Division Street on the south, Davis Street on the west and Mesquite Street on the east.

The group first met on Feb. 29 and has had a couple meetings since then, including the most recent on Friday (4/11). North Central Group's main message to property owners is wait so that group leaders can negotiate a more attractive lease. After all, offers for $25,000 an acre were recently sent out by Carrizo Oil and Gas to homeowners not too far away, just north of Pioneer Parkway.

You can check out more about the new Arlington group on the website for Mount Olive Baptist Church (archive photo, Arlington's Outstanding African-Americans celebration), which helped to form the North Central Group. The group's link is here. There's a link on the site for you to sign up, or else you can call Senior Pastor N.L. Robinson at (817) 461-7391.

Chesapeake Energy has already expressed "an interest in leasing your neighborhood and prudently developing your minerals," according to the Web site. No word on what the lease offers are at this point.

The North Central Group is just northwest of another group in the middle of Arlington, known as the Central Arlington Property Owners, or CAPO. Here's what we've said about CAPO.

--David Wethe

CAPO (SE Arlington) is city's latest acronym/group

We should award prizes here at the Barnett Shale blog for best new neighborhood group names. Arlington apparently hasn't run out of fresh acronyms for its neighborhood groups. Up steps CAPO (click here for its web site), which stands for Central Arlington Property Owners.

The group abuts the north end of SEAPO, and the neighborhoods it aims to represent are more southeasterly than central: Pioneer Parkway to the south, Cooper Street to the west, Park Row to the north, Susan Drive on the east, and east of Texas 360. The group's northern boundary also jogs up to take Mitchell Street. The neighborhoods are predominantly Hispanic, with many Spanish speakers, says Ricky Esqueda, lead organizer of CAPO.

We blogged Wednesday about offers the group has been receiving from Carrizo Oil & Gas.

Carrizo, in offers it's been sending out for about two weeks, is offering a two-choice menu, with lease bonuses ranging between $18,000 and $25,000 per acre. Esqueda says that's presented a challenge for property owners in his neighborhoods, with some homeowners signing off immediately at lease signing meetings Carrizo has been holding at the Bob Duncan Community Center.

Esqueda says the lease offers are "inferior" to what's been offered elsewhere in Arlington. Through fliers, the group's web site, and word of mouth, the group is spreading the message that property owners should wait. Property owners realize "they have an asset that is worth some money to the oil and gas community," says Esqueda, an accountant.

The neighborhood organizers' goal is "to help people become better informed on their decision, before they make a rash decision," he says. "I think that message is getting across."

CAPO wants to build its lease off of the SEAPO form, and SEAPO leaders are mentoring CAPO, Esqueda says.

To reach the group, visit its web site. Phone is (817) 705-5272. Email address is capo.group@yahoo.com.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photos: Blanton Elementary School, Carter Junior High assembly)

Chesapeake bumps offer to $19k for S. Davis (Arl)

The South Davis Neighborhood Association is now urging its members to sign a lease offer they received in the mail from Chesapeake Energy that has a $19,000-per-acre bonus and 25 percent royalty with a three-year term, said Becky Harrell, president of the neighborhood group.

The offer was presented about two weeks ago by Dale Resources, which is representing Chesapeake as the land company.

The Chesapeake offer is a considerable jump from what had previously been offered by Chesapeake, Carrizo Oil & Gas and XTO, she said.

XTO's offer has since fallen off the table, but the Carrizo offer -- $15,000 per acre with a 25 percent royalty for three years -- still stands, Harrell said.

But South Davis leaders think "this is a good deal," she said. The South Davis community is bound by West Park Row Drive, East Pioneer Parkway, South Cooper Street and South Fielder Road.

--David Wethe

Happy Days in Arlington...

The middle-class homeowners who make up Southeast Arlington Property Owners (SEAPO) may be ecstatic over the record-busting $22,000-per-acre bonus their neighborhood negotiators just scored in a sealed-bid lease competition.

But there may be a happier guy in Arlington. That's Jeff Richman, an organizer of the west Arlington neighborhood group CATS, which is trying to organize a big portion of homeowners around Lake Arlington and keep them from bolting and signing an $18,000-per-acre offer from Permian Land Services, which is working the area on behalf of XTO Energy. The $18k was among the previous tops in neighborhood lease offers in the Barnett Shale.

"That's great news," Richman said last night when he learned of the SEAPO deal, which Paloma Resources offered on behalf of Chesapeake Energy.

The CATS crew is organizing property owners in the area from I-20 on the south to Pioneer Parkway on the north, Little Road on the east, and Lake Arlington on the west. (Click here to read our previous post on CATS and click here to visit the group's web site.) It's a huge area that even aspires to include the smaller Little Green Ark group at Little Road and Arkansas Lane.

The CATS and Little Green Ark groups are discussing a possible linkup. Richman says somebody claiming to represent CATS told Little Green Ark homeowners at a meeting Thursday night that CATS was already too big for Little Green Ark.

But Richman says that claim is not true, no committee members  from CATS attended the Little Green Ark's meeting, and that CATS is still interested in talks with Little Green Ark.

"I talked to all my committee members and no committee members were even at that meeting last night," Richman said Friday. Why not? Because CATS wants to respect Little Green Ark's organizing efforts, he said.

He also said chatter emerged from a Paloma lease meeting that CATS' organizers don't live in Arlington. All of CATS' organizers live in the neighborhoods and the group is not paying for outside advice, he said. He said an attorney from Fort Worth is advising CATS pro-bono.

"People ask me, well, what are you getting paid?" says Richman, who is a salesman of packaged trial-size toiletry products and says he's lived in Arington for years. "I'm not getting paid a cent."

CATS' task of organizing hundreds of homes that fall under 20 homeowner associations has been daunting, Richman said. He acknowledges some homeowners may have already signed leases at meetings that land agents for Paloma Resources have been holding, (Paloma is offering to sign leases in the area on behalf of Chesapeake Energy, but its offered terms are lower at this point.)

Richman said homeowners who are signing may not be aware of CATS' efforts to organize property owners.

"We're doing a good job," Richman said. "I know we could be doing better. We don't have a budget. We all work. It's hard for us to get all this done."

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photos: Lake Arlington)

Fielder Park group backs much-improved lease

Bernetta Glasser of central Arlington's Fielder Park Gas Lease Negotiating Group reports that the organization is supporting an offer from Carrizo Oil and Gas for $15,000 an acre and a 25 percent royalty. She says lease signing started Thursday.

The Fielder Park group's experience is a shining example of how neighborhood cohesion can earn more favorable lease terms for landowners. Carrizo's first offer in July, through its agent Cheaha Land Services, was $1,200 an acre and 23 percent royalty. The competition escalated when Chesapeake Energy and its agent, Western Production Co., entered the fray.

The Fielder Park group's email address is briarwoodestatesarlington@yahoo.com.

Update: Click here for the full Star-Telegram story on this deal.

-- Jim Fuquay

(Photo: Fielder Park)

Chesapeake, Western boost Fielder Park offer

Western Production, acting as agent for Chesapeake Energy, has raised the bidding in central Arlington and Briarwood Estates, reports the Fielder Park Gas Lease Negotiation Group. Western is offering $6,000 an acre and 25 percent royalty, reports Bernetta Glasser, head of the group, which represents about 180 property owners. Carrizo Oil and Gas and its agent, Cheaha Land Services, started the leasing battle with an offer of $1,200 an acre and 23 percent. Glasser said her group has a meeting planned for Thursday evening. She can be reached at briarwoodestatesarlington@yahoo.com.

-- Jim

Fielder Park area gets some competition

Bernetta Glasser, head of the Fielder Park Gas Lease Negotiation Group in central Arlington, reports that Chesapeake Energy has commenced leasing efforts in the area, boosting lease offers.

Carrizo Oil & Gas, which has the University of Texas at Arlington gas lease, and its agent, Cheaha Land Services, started working the central Arlington region, including Briarwood Estates, in July.

The initial offer: bonus of $1,200 an acre and royalty 23 percent. The group got that up to $4,000 and 23 percent and continued talks. Now Carrizo has boosted the deal to $5,000 and 25 percent, Glasser said, to match an offer from Chesapeake and its agent, Western Production Co.

She's been impressed by Western's willingness to actually refer landowners to her group, which is up to 177 properties, including some commercial holdings. Glasser said the Fielder Park Gas group, which includes the area north of Park Row and west of Fielder, attended a meeting Sunday of the Heart of Arlington Neighborhood Association, which is working to bring together various groups into a common bargaining unit. Talks are continuing. Glasser can be reached at briarwoodestatesarlington@yahoo.com.

-- Jim

(photos: Fourth of July celebration and football practice, Fielder Park)

Arlington's Briarwood Estates pushes for better terms

Briarwood Estates in central Arlington, which originally was offered leases carrying a $1,200 per acre bonus, has negotiated that up to $4,00 and a 23 percent royalty in talks with Cheaha Land Services and Carrizo Oil, which has the contract to drill on University of Texas-Arlington property. Talks are continuing.

-- Jim