Barnett Shale

Watauga group reports $13,000 Spartan lease offer

Watauga Area Mineral Rights Association (WAMRA), which has already reported offers from Holland Acquisitions on behalf of XTO Energy, says Spartan Geophysical has jumped into the area with an offer for $13,000 per acre and a 25 percent royalty. It is the second time in as many weeks that Spartan has surfaced. Barely a week ago a homeowner in Parkwood Hill Estates, a north Fort Worth neighborhood just west of Watauga, reported an identical offer from Spartan, which lists a southwest Fort Worth address. WAMRA organizer Cheron Stults, in a posting on the group's  Web site, said she is encouraged that the new offer suggests the area is gaining visibility, but recommended that homeowners  not sign a lease, but instead work with the organization.

WAMRA consists of members in the Greenfield Village neighborhood of Watauga, which is just northeast of the intersection for U.S. 377 and Watauga Road. The group is also close to Grace Hardeman Elementary and Watauga Middle School. Stults has said XTO's offer includes a per-acre bonus of $10,000 and a 25 percent royalty as part a standard three-year lease with a two-year option. The option would pay another $10,000 bonus. In Parkwood Hill Estates, a neighborhood of fewer than 100 homes, one homeowner reported that a landman said Spartan has been active in Oklahoma. The landman said that about 150 residents have signed in an area roughly bounded by Teal on the west. North Tarrant Parkway on the north, Indiana Springs Road on the east and Chapman on the south. That area includes the Park Glen development. Parkwood Hill has scheduled a meeting Thursday, July 24, to discuss leasing at Alliance Baptist Church, 8400 Park Vista Blvd., at 7 p.m.

-- Jim Fuquay

360 NW Coalition getting closer to a deal

The 360 Northwest Coalition says on its Web site that it's getting close to a deal.

The group runs along the west side of State Highway 360 and Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, north of Mid-Cities Boulevard. Leaders of the group, which is in Grapevine and Euless, are negotiating with representatives of Chesapeake Energy and XTO Energy.

Regardless, Cimmaron Field Services, acting on behalf of Chesapeake, is still sending out offers to individual property owners in hopes of picking people off one by one. The latest offer is for a per-acre bonus of $18,500, a 25 percent royalty and an initial three-year term.

The neighborhood group said on its Web site that it's a "last-ditch effort" to get property owners to sign a lease that favors the drilling company rather than the homeowner. The offer is "a powerful validation that our organization and negotiations efforts are succeeding," according to its Web site.

The 360 Northwest Coalition has been talking with XTO and Chesapeake since May and is close to finalizing the legal terms of a lease. It will then work on negotiating the "economics of the lease," according to the Web site.

The group is telling members to hold off on signing anything until a lease is endorsed by the 360 Northwest Coalition.

Chesapeake/Cimmaron has agreed to immediately cease their direct-sale tactics whenever a property owner tells them they are a member of the 360 Northwest Coalition. ... Simply inform the solicitor that you are a registered member of the 360 Northwest Coalition and you are part of our group negotiations. Chesapeake/Cimmaron has agreed to honor that and will immediately end the call.

Here's what we've said about this group before.

--David Wethe

DFW West (Grapevine) gets lease deal with XTO

The DFW West Homeowners group in Grapevine reports it has accepted a lease deal with XTO Energy and its representative, Colt Exploration.

The terms: $18,500 signing bonus, four-year primary lease term, one-year extension option for $11,500 per acre, and a 25 percent royalty. The drill site would be north of Highway 26, Kevin Rhodes, one of DFW West's organizers, told homeowners in an email message.

"We will notify you as soon as the final lease is negotiated," Rhodes says in the email. "We anticipate having multiple lease signing meetings and possibly mailings for those who cannot make it to the meetings."

Click here to visit DFW West's web site.

-- Scott Nishimura

Grapevine leasing moving closer to downtown?

A property owner in the Sunshine Harbor development northwest of Texan Trail and East Dallas Road, and east of Main Street reports that Cimmaron Field Services is offering a lease with a $10,000-per-acre bonus. The homeowner reports the approach was made by phone and that the agent is following up with one-on-one meetings.

Cimmaron has been offering to sign leases for Chesapeake Energy in Grapevine west of D/FW Airport, where Chesapeake has been drilling.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Archive photo: Grapevine's Main Street Days)

360 NW Coalition (Grapevine, Euless) gets bigger

There's a new group out there we've never talked about in the Grapevine and Euless area.

The 360 Northwest Coalition (group website) formed in earnest around mid to late February with eight subdivisions along the west side of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport near State Highway 360 and Glade Road.

But the group purposefully stayed below the radar for the past few months as it tried to get its leadership infrastructure in place.

Now, the group is announcing that it has added five more neighborhoods. They are:

• Glade Crossing
• Glade Landing
• Meadowbrook Park Addition
• Saybrooke
• Shadow Glen Addition

The 360 Northwest Coalition, which now consists of 3,000 residential and commercial properties on 750 acres, has its particular name because the group is essentially located at the northwest end of S.H. 360, where it merges with State Highway 121.

So far, the group only has offers from Cimmaron, working on behalf of Chesapeake Energy. The first offer, which came in December, was for a per-acre bonus of $3,000 and royalties of 20 percent, said Dan Delph, the lead organizer of 360 Northwest.

In March, Cimmaron upped its bonus offer to $6,500.

Delph, who retired last year as a software designer for Southlake-based Sabre, said his group is still focusing on registering members in the area and will deal with negotiating with the land company a little later. The group will wrap up registration efforts in two weeks and then will form an executive negotiating team that will deal with the lease offers then, Delph said.

Now that it has a "critical mass of neighborhood groups," 360 Northwest is now trying to bring in commercial properties and any other nearby individual homeowners who may not be part of a subdivision or homeowners association.

Here's a look at the original founding members of 360 Northwest Coalition:

• Arbormont Estates
• Chelsea Park Estates
• Cinnamon Ridge
• Glade Manor Addition
• Mel Village Addition
• Northgate Addition
• Quail Run Estates
• Sagepoint Addition

Here's a little about what we've said on these neighorhoods in the past.

--David Wethe

Grapevine organizers move ahead

Organizers of DFW West Homeowners in Grapevine, a coalition of more than 20 neighborhoods west of Texas 121 and north of Hall Johnson, report they're moving ahead.

The group is broken down by subdivision, with one or two leaders per subdivision. DFW West says it has a group of seven "specialists" who work in the energy industry. It's up to each subdivision's leaders to organize their homeowners.

"We're just a few weeks away from negotiating," one of the group's leaders says.

He also says the group has spoken to organizers of a group of neighborhoods in Grapevine east of 121 that have organized and signed a letter of intent to be represented by two independent landmen. Chris Warton, a leader of that group, says both sides plan to meet soon.

The Grapevine neighborhoods and some in Euless, all just west of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, have received lease offers from Cimmaron Field Services on behalf of Chesapeake Energy. Click here to read our previous posts on Grapevine and here to read our previous posts on Euless. The offers: $3,000-per-acre signing bonus, 20 percent royalty.

Other tidbits from DFW West:

• Cimmaron is telling neighborhood organizers it's sent out 5,000 lease packets to the area.
• Neighborhood organizers say they control about 2,000 lots and 400 acres.
• On its web site, DFW West lists more than 20 neighborhoods that it's working with. In addition to the neighborhoods that Blogging the Barnett Shale has already reported, DFW West's site lists the Stonewood, Creekwood West, Los Robles, Walker Farms Timberline East, High Point, and Parkwood neighborhoods west of 121 and north of Hall-Johnsonin Grapevine. DFW West's site also lists the Glade Crossing group and the Euless neighborhoods of Glade Manor, Quail Run Estates, and Quali Creek Estates east of 121 off of Glade Road.

DFW West organizers are telling property owners they want to:

• Limit the size of the pooling unit to ensure the highest possible royalty payments.
• Negotiate no warranty of title into the lease, providing protection in cases of disputes over ownership of mineral rights.
• Limit the lease term, possibly to three years. The offered term is for five years.
• Ensure they know where the drill sites are.
• Negotiate protection on mortgage subordination.
• Negotiate protection on environmental concerns.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photos: Grapevine's Great Wolf Lodge, traffic on Texas 114 at Texas 121)

Having a meeting on the Barnett Shale? Publicize it here, on our new Community Calendar!

Grapevine neighborhoods join forces

Three Grapevine neighborhoods east of Texas 121 in the Glade Road area have signed a notice of intent to be represented by two independent landmen in any negotiations on a group gas lease, the group is reporting.

The Glade Crossing Neighborhood Association, Shadow Glen association, and Saybrooke association signed the notice last week, comprising a block of 1,500 homes, Chris Warton, president of the Glade Crossing association said today. Here's a link to their web site, which has contact information for the group. The neighborhoods are north of Glade Road, east of Baze Road, and west of Euless Main, and go north of Hughes.

The associations have also spoken to organizers of a coalition of Grapevine neighborhoods west of 121 and north of Hall Johnson Road about joining up, which would comprise a total block of 3,500 homes, Warton said. He said the group might also be interested in joining up with neighborhoods in Euless south of Glade Road. The neighborhoods west of 121 and north of Hall-Johnson have organized into a group called DFW West Homeowners; here's a link to their web site and contact information.

All of the neighborhoods began receiving offers in the fall from Cimmaron Field Services, acting on behalf of Chesapeake Energy. The offers: $3,000-per-acre signing bonus, 20 percent royalty, five-year term, no surface access rights. Here are our previous posts on Grapevine and our previous posts on Euless.

Warton said his group's goal is to try and win the financial terms of the lease deal that Dallas/Fort Worth Airport signed (about $10,000 per acre signing bonus), plus ensure environmental safeguards and try and get as short a term as possible. Chesapeake is drilling at the airport, which is just east of the Grapevine and Euless neighborhoods and could drill underneath the neighborhoods from there, the neighborhoods believe.

"We are not as concerned about the money as much as where the drill goes, what the noise is, how long the term is," said Warton, deputy head of standards for an aerospace company's Dallas training center.

Nobody besides Chesapeake appears to be in the picture for the leases, which diminishes the group's bargaining power, Warton acknowledged. But the group has "the fact that we are so large, and we can just say we're not interested. You'll shut down hundreds of homes."

Warton said his group found the two landmen through a Saybrooke homeowner, who knew one of them. One of the organizers of the neighborhoods west of 121 also is an independent landman.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photo: Grapevine's Pleasant Glade Pool)

Having a meeting? Publicize it here, in our new Barnett Shale Community Calendar!

Grapevine-Euless HOAs ask owners to hold off

Here's Jim Fuquay's story from today on leasing in Grapevine and Euless. And here are our previous posts on leasing in the two cities.

-- Scott Nishimura

Getting on the ball: Grapevine

Blogging the Barnett Shale continues to receive updates from property owners in Grapevine subdivisions west of Texas 121 and D/FW Airport, north of Hall Johnson Road, east of Pool Road and south of Mustang Drive. An increasing number of property owners also are interested in helping organize those neighborhoods.

For the sake of user-friendliness, as we hear about them, we're adding the new neighborhoods from that area on this post. You'll find comments from property owners who want to organize on that post, this second post and a third.

Additionally, you'll find updates from the nearby Euless/Glade Road neighborhoods in Euless and Grapevine that report receiving the same offer on this post. It also includes comments from property owners who want to organize.

All posts have updated contact info on Cimmaron Field Services. And, our apologies to Cimmaron for misspelling the company's name. All references are correct now.

Thanks again for reading us!

-- Scott Nishimura

Euless-GVine homeowners near D/FW report offers

Euless and Grapevine property owners in neighborhoods just west of D/FW Airport, east of Texas 121 and off of Glade Road report the same lease offer that residents of several nearby Grapevine neighborhoods have received from Cimmaron Field Services on behalf of Chesapeake Energy.

The neighborhoods that have reported their offers to Blogging the Barnett Shale:

• Arbormont Estates, east of Baze Road, north of Glade, west of Euless Grapevine Road and Texas 360, Grapevine.
• Cinnamon Ridge, east of 121, south of Glade Road, west of Texas 360, east of North Euless Main Street, Euless.
• Quail Run Estates, east of 121, south of Glade Road, and west of North Main Street, Euless.
• Glade Crossing, east of Baze Road, north of Glade Road, and west of Euless Grapevine Road and Texas 360, Grapevine.
• Glade Manor, east of North Euless Main Street, south of Glade Road, west of Texas 360, Euless.

The terms: $3,000-per-acre signing bonus, 20 percent royalty, five-year term, no surface access rights.

Homeowners report Cimmaron is holding a series of lease signing meetings. The last two are scheduled Dec. 17 and Dec. 19 at Colleyville Center.

Grapevine homeowners have reported a series of lease offers west of 121 that are identiical to the ones in Euless. The Grapevine homeowners believe the drill sites could be at D/FW Airport, where Chesapeake has been drilling.

Getting organized: A Glade area property owner wants to organize property owners -- he says the Glade area has a high number of landlord-owned properties, which will make organizing more difficult -- to get the best possible terms. Contact Phil Huddleston at pdh6251@aol.com.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photo: Shopping center goes up at southeast corner of Texas 121 and Glade Road)