Barnett Shale

Gas lease renewals in southwest Arlington

Word in the southwest Arlington area around Lake Arlington Baptist Church (roughly along Little Road, between Arkansas and Mayfield) is that homeowners are receiving lease renewal bonus checks from Chesapeake Energ, giving the company two more years to drill on that turf. The company's previous three-year lease, providing a bonus of $22,000 an acre, was negotiated, signed and paid for in April 2008.

- Bob Cox

Full story: Chesapeake's monster Southwest Arlington well

Here's staff writer Jack Z. Smith's full story on Chesapeake Energy's monster well in southwest Arlington.

- Jack Z. Smith, energy writer, Star-Telegram

Monster well II: Chesapeake's well is off U.S. 287 in Southwest Arlington

Here's more on the "monster" Barnett Shale gas well that Chesapeake Energy has in southwest Arlington. The address is 1901 Turner Way in Arlington.

Mineral rights owners who are curious as to whether they might receive royalties from the well (which lists an address of 1901 Turner Way in Arlington), or other wells drilled on the same padsite, can  telephone the company’s neighborhood relations unit at 817/ 502-5000.

As an alternative, they can go to Chesapeake’s website at www.askchesapeake.com/barnett and click on “Neighborhood Center” on the left side of the page. Then, click on the last well site (“White, Turner Way and Collins”) listed under “Arlington” wells.

To date, eight wells have been drilled on the padsite and Chesapeake anticipates drilling three more wells on the padsite, the White A2H,  A4H and B5H, beginning in February, according to the website.  

- Jack Z. Smith, energy writer, Star-Telegram

Arlington drilling meeting

ARLINGTON

— Council member Sheri Capehart is hosting a townhall meeting Oct. 16 regarding gas well drilling in southwest Arlington. Chesapeake Energy Corp. is scheduled to provide an update on drill activity at the meeting, scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at Carol Holt Elementary School, 7321 Ledbetter Road. For more information, call 817-459-6122 or e-mail Ellen.Brooke@arlingtontx.gov.

– Susan Schrock

New face Titan Operating is looking titanic

For a new company, Titan Operating is up and running like a veteran. In the past month it has won the endorsement of big neighborhood groups in Colleyville and North Arlington, and this week announced the financial backing of Riverstone Holdings, a $15 billion private equity firm with sizable energy holdings. Chalk up the fast start to Titan's founders, all experienced Barnett Shale producers. Titan Chairman Hollis Sullivan is also president of Wichita Falls-based Hollis R. Sullivan Inc., which in July was named as one of the sellers of $800 million worth of producing properties and leases in the Barnett Shale to XTO Energy. Other Titan co-founders are Christopher Hammack, former vice president of drilling and completions for Range Resources, and Mark Schumacher, who headed EnCana Oil & Gas USA’s Barnett Shale operations. Riverstone did not disclose the amount of its investment in Titan, but said it “made a significant capital commitment to Titan,” which it said will focus “on acquisitions and development in the Barnett Shale.”

Click here for the Star-Telegram's report on the transaction: Download titan_resources.doc

-- Jim Fuquay

SWAPO2 owners get checks for street acreage

SWAPO2 (Southwest Arlington) says Carburante -- the land agent that did the neighborhood's community lease deal for Carrizo Oil & Gas -- is preparing bonus checks for street acreage calculations and will begin distributing them 3:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. May 22 at the Park Springs Bible Church. Subsequent meetings will be May 23, 27, 29, and 31 at the church, at the same times. Only the Thousand Oaks and Trails West neighborhoods will have their checks ready at this meeting, SWAPO2 says.

"All other subdivisions will need to wait until their letter is received before coming to the church," SWAPO2 says in an email message to property owners. "If you have not signed your lease yet, please let us know as soon as possible, because Carburante is preparing street bonus checks for people who have already signed first."

Carburante says property owners who want to sign the Carburante/Carrizo lease should call Shelley at (817) 945-3830 to schedule an appointment.

-- Scott Nishimura

CATS endorses Titan Resources/Caffey contract

CATS, the southwest Arlington group representing homeowners immediately east of Lake Arlington, said Monday it endorsed a lease with Titan Resources/Caffey Group and will hold informational meetings at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Monday at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 5819 W. Pleasant Ridge Dr. The CATS lease pays a $26,000/acre bonus and 25.5 percent royalty for a 3-year term (and a commitment to drill within 30 months), said organizer Jim MacDowell. He said the extra half-point royalty came from the owner of a planned drill site, near Bowman Springs and Shorewood, who contributed a portion of his override on the lease. Titan is affiliated with Hollis R. Sullivan, MacDowell said. He said the deal was the outcome of discussions with five parties that eventually came down to Titan and Paloma Resources, acting on behalf of Chesapeake Energy.

-- Jim Fuquay

SWAPO2 owners get calculations to street centers

SWAPO2 (Southwest Arlington Property Owners 2) is telling property owners today that Carrizo Oil & Gas and its agent, Carburante, have agreed to include acreage calculations to the centers of streets in figuring up the money homeowners are due.

SWAPO2 notes that it had not negotiated this issue when its gas committee agreed to recommend the Carrizo/Carburante lease. "The good news for SWAPO2 is that Carrizo and Carburante...have agreed to include acreage to the center of the street in all cases," SWAPO2 reports in an email update.

The calculation applies only to property owners who have not already received calculations to the middle of streets. Already signed your lease and received your bonus? If you didn't get the center-to-street calculation, you have more money coming, and will be notified "in the coming weeks," SWAPO2 says.

SWAPO2 is also restarting its "online letter of intent" signups. If you signed the original memorandum of intent to be represented by SWAPO2 and didn't make it to a lease signing meeting, you must sign the group's new letter if you want in on the Carrizo lease. Above is SWAPO2's coverage map. Click here to see a larger version of it and visit SWAPO2's web site for more info.

Here's all of our previous posts on SWAPO2.

-- Scott Nishimura

From a lease negotiation springs a community...

SEACTX (South East Arlington Communities) reports on its web site and in an email update that a couple of byproducts have sprung up from its effort to market a community gas lease: a crime watch and database of small business owners in the neighborhoods.

The group, which recently merged with the POSAR group of Southwest Arlington, says it's building a crime watch that will call for volunteers from every subdivision. Interested? You may send an email to the group at duramaxhd@sbcglobal.net.

The group also wants small business owners in the neighborhoods to let them know you are. "We will create a reference list...and post to the website, blog, and email to support our own community when we must spend that money for specific services," the group says. "We want to strive toward a tighter community, like it used to be." The group asks small business owners to respond to the same email address with your business and owner name, email, phone, and line of business.

SEACTX, which takes in 45 neighborhoods (visit the web site to see if your neighborhood is included) in far south Arlington from Texas 360 to U.S. 287, has also put a copy of the lease it's marketing on its web site. Among the terms it's looking for: a 30 percent royalty, structured to be free of post-production/transportation costs.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photo: Juan Seguin High band)

Attn: Hibernators! SWAPO2 sets more meetings

Property owners in SWAPO2's Southwest Arlington area who have decided to sign their leases, or just now become aware of the neighborhood negotiating group (apparently, some folks are just now coming out of hibernation), can now attend a new set of meetings.

SWAPO2 and Carrizo Oil & Gas have scheduled more lease signing meetings on their agreement, and these "will continue indefinitely until everyone eligible in the SWAPO2 area has been given a fair chance to join," SWAPO2 says in an email and a posting on its web site. To see whether you're included in this group, click here to see the coverage map.

The meetings will be Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, 1:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. at the Park Springs Bible Church, 5515 Park Springs Blvd., Arlington.

Homeowners can sign their leases and receive their lease bonus checks at these meetings if they 1) have already signed letters of intent with SWAPO2, and 2) been notified by mail that their title research is complete and their leases and checks are ready, SWAPO2 says.

Homeowners can also sign letters of intent at these meetings, SWAPO2 says. To be eligible, property owners must be in the SWAPO2 boundary and not signed a lease with another company.

If you sign a letter of intent at these meetings, "you will then wait around 3-5 weeks for title research to be completed before being notified by mail regarding your completed lease and bonus check," SWAPO2 says. "If you have already signed a letter of intent but have yet to be informed about your lease completion, please be patient."

SWAPO2 also advises property owners who want to sign leases or letters of intent to bring identification. Additionally, everybody who's on the title to your home must be present to sign.

For questions about signing meetings or other details about the Carrizo lease, SWAPO2 says you may send an email to Carburante, the land agent, at ramon@carburante.com.

Dale Resources also is offering to sign leases in the SWAPO2 area on behalf of Chesapeake Energy, but those leases are not (correction: we omitted this word in the initial post) being recommended by SWAPO2.

Click here to read all of our posts about SWAPO2.

-- Scott Nishimura