Barnett Shale

Timbercreek (Benbrook) agrees to sign with Fleet

The Timbercreek Neighborhood Association in Benbrook has agreed it's time to put their name on the dotted line with Fleet Oil and Gas.

For a $7,000-per-acre bonus on a three-year initial term and a two-year option, the Timbercreek neighborhood is recommending that its members sign with Fleet, which will turn the leases over XTO Energy, the only company drilling in that area.

"We began this task believing we would be able to negotiate for the high dollars we were observing in other areas," Pat Dunkin wrote in an e-mail to Timbercreek homeowners. "However, those areas have more than one gas company wanting to drill in their neighborhoods, and we did not.  No competition, no large bonuses."

As a result, Dunkin is telling property owners to show up for a lease signing party at the Best Western hotel on Tues., April 22, and Thurs., April 24, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sat., April 26 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

If you go, bring:

• Driver's license or valid picture ID
• Your spouse; both need to attend before you receive your check; if your spouse can't attend, he or she can come back at another date or schedule for a Fleet representative to come to your house

The bonus check will be handed out at the Best Western after you sign. But Dunkin points out that not all contracts may be available at the time of the signing. If not, hold tight, and Fleet representatives will dig it up soon, she said.

Trinity Gardens, which had teamed up with Timbercreek on negotiations, already signed their leases, Dunkin said. Trinity Estates, another neighborhood group working with Timbercreek, still has yet to sign, she said.

To see more about what we've reported on these three groups, click here.

--David Wethe

(Archive photos: Benbrook Lake)

North Arlington neighborhoods merge into group

These new Arlington groups are hard to keep up with. Meadow Parks Estates in North Arlington reports neighborhoods there have morphed into the North Arlington Neighbors group.

Its fast-changing map includes neighborhoods from I-30 on the south, to Green Oaks Boulevard on the west and north, to Cooper Street on the east. The eastern boundary zigzags north of Cooper to abut the Ditto Golf Course (pictured) on its west side and then reconnects with Green Oaks.

We blogged awhile back on lease offers the property owners have been getting from Fleet Oil and Gas and Carrizo Oil and Gas. North Arlington Neighbors now reports that XTO Energy is offering to sign leases at $9,500 per acre, 25 percent royalty, three-year primary term, and a two-year optional term at $9,500 per acre in the Northeast section of the North Arlington Neighbors map.

North Arlington Neighbors reports it includes the Rolling Hills Estates, Meadow Park Estates, Timbercreek, River Legacy Estates, Forrest Creek, and Parkway North neighborhoods. Click here to visit the group's web site, see what neighborhoods they aim to include, and how you can sign a memorandum of intent to be represented by the group.

-- Scott Nishimura

Here's a new one: Landman says "Wait, don't sign!"

Here's one we're not sure we've seen come over the Barnett Shale desk: a land agency telling property owners there's no rush to sign a lease.

Pardon North Arlington homeowners if they need to lie down for a bit to absorb this one. "We believe that it's in your best interest to wait -- do not sign a lease at this time!" Fleet Oil and Gas tells homeowners in letters distributed late last week.

"There's no April Fool's joke," says James Chaffin, president of the Rolling Hills Neighborhood Association. "The reason I know that is this was sent to me on Friday."

Why wait to sign a lease? There are no city-approved drill sites right now, and "it is not in your best interest to sign a lease with an operator who does not have permission to drill from the City of Arlington," Fleet's letter says.

Fleet's the one that's under contract to buy two apartment complexes at Collins Street and Washington Drive, intending to tear them down for a drill site. Fleet says in the letter it expects to have its drill permit approved by the city April 30 and it will likely take up to 12 months to demolish the apartments and have an "operational drill site that is capable of producing royalty income."

"You will not be left out," Fleet's letter says. "You will have the opportunity to sign a lease with the company or companies that have an approved drill site."

Several energy companies are trolling for leases in the Arlington neighborhoods north of I-30, and a loose coalition of several neighborhoods -- they haven't officially banded together -- has been working together to discuss a response.

• Fleet is offering $15,000 per acre, a three-year primary term, and 25 percent royalty. Its offers have been going out in Rolling Hills, Parkway Central, Parkway North, and parts of Meadow Park. Fleet goes on to say in its letter that it's "not an operator, and we do not drill gas wells. We secure active drill sites and mineral rights to partner with nationally reputable, public operators."
• Carrizo Oil & Gas is trying to secure a drill site on a horse farm at Cooper and Green Oaks, Chaffin says, and is floating offers of $18,000 per acre, three years, and 25 percent royalty to property owners in Rolling Hills, Parkway Central, and Meadow Park.
• Marsh Operating Co., which has secured a drill site at Rolling Hills Country Club, can reach much or all of Rolling Hills and Parkway Central, and half of Meadow Park, Chaffin says. He says he just learned today that Marsh wants to speak to his association.
• XTO Energy could reach most of Meadow Park, among neighborhoods, from a prospective site at Davis near Green Oaks, Chaffin says.

Click here to read our previous post on Meadow Park Estates, and here to read our previous post on Rolling Hills.

-- Scott Nishimura

Meadow Parks Estates (N. Arl) gets offers on St. Pat's

Meadow Parks Estates (North Arlington) is organizing, now that agents for Carrizo Oil & Gas have started to distribute lease offers in the neighborhood. The offered terms: $15,000-per-acre signing bonus, 25 percent royalty, standard lease form.

Ellen Boyer, a neighborhood organizer and petroleum engineer, said agents representing Carrizo were going door-to-door with the offer on St. Patrick's Day.

Neighborhood organizers have put up a web site (click here to visit it) and are going door to door, posting fliers and asking homeowners to sign a memorandum of intent to join up with the group.

"The message is, Don't sign yet," Boyer said. Email questions to MPE76012@gmail.com.

She said the neighborhood may be interested in joining up with several others nearby that have received lease offers. "Whether we go with the other neighborhoods remains to be seen," she said.

Meadow Parks Estates is bounded by North Cooper Street, Green Oaks Bouleavard, North Davis, and Wayland Drive. The neighborhood has about 800 homes, but no established association, Boyer said.

"We're going to be working the neighborhood over the weekend," she said.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photos: Butler Elementary, Lamar High School swimming)

Tear down apartments for a drill site

How tough is it to find a drilling site in North Arlington?

So tough that Fleet Oil and Gas has signed a contract to buy two apartment complexes on Washington Drive with plans to tear them down and set up a drilling rig if the city approves the required drilling.

Reporter Susan Schrock reports that the two complexes, Madison Creek and Hampton Hills apartments, have 291 units between them and are among 22 apartment complexes in the city's Lamar-Collins zoning overlay. The city last year approved new zoning in hopes of attracting retail and office developments, as well as high-rise residential complexes.

Ooops.

-- Bill Bowen

(Photos: Madison Creek, Hampton Hills)

More South Arlington homeowners organize

Several south Arlington neighborhoods have organized to approach gas lease offers. Here's the update:

Nine neighborhoods -- Collinwood Village, Colonial Estates, Fairfield, Greenleaf Addition, South Hampton, Summerwood, Valley Springs, Whispering Meadows, and Winding Creek -- have organized together and retained two attorneys who will act as agents and be paid based on an increase over the current offered signing bonuses. Here's the group's web site and contact info. Interested property owners can also contact attorney Daniel Webb at inquiry@danielpwebb.com. Here's a map of the group's coverage area: south of Green Oaks Boulevard, east of South Cooper Street, north of Sublett Road and Lynn Creek, and west of Cravens Road. Matlock Road bisects the map.

The group says it expects to begin talks with several energy companies it says have expressed interest, including Carrizo Oil & Gas, Paloma Resources, Four Sevens/Chesapeake Energy, XTO Energy, and Fleet Oil and Gas. So far, Cheaha Land Services, acting on behalf of Carrizo, is the only company that has offered to sign leases broadly in the neighborhoods, said Brian Smith, bskipsmith@sbcglobal.net, a Summerwood property owner and one of group's organizers.

Cheaha has been offering to sign leases in the neighborhoods at signing bonuses of $700 per property, but recently offered to bump that up to $1,000 during face to face visits with homeowners, Smith said. In recent conversations between his group and Cheaha, Cheaha representatives appeared open to negotiating with the large group, which represents 2,500 parcels of land, Smith said. Cheaha landmen are still aggressively working the neighborhoods, passing out business cards the day before Christmas, Smith reports.

He also said agents for Hollis R. Sullivan, which has been offering to sign leases elsewhere in south Arlington and Kennedale, have offered leases to some homeowners in the southern portion of his neighborhood group.

Smith says he believes the neighborhoods have been successful at getting homeowners to hold off. An estimated 400-500 property owners showed up to a Dec. 17 meeting.

"We had a very good showing, and we had people who couldn't go who called," he said. Here are Blogging the Barnett Shale's previous posts about leasing in south Arlington.

Neighborhoods off of Turner Warnell, east of Soutb Cooper Street, and west of Matlock Road, almost to Mansfield, are organizing and report offers from Dale Resources on behalf of Chesapeake and Hollis R. Sullivan.

The main two neighborhoods are South Pointe and South Pointe II, said Thomas Lerch, thlerch@tx.rr.com, one of the group's organizers. Dale/Chesapeake is offering to sign leases at $1,000 per lot signing bonuses, 25 percent royalty, three-year term, two-year option, and 640-acre pooling, Lerch said.

Sullivan started by offering to sign leases at $200 per lot bonus, but has since raised that to $1,000. It's also offering a 22 percent royalty and 320-acre pool.

Lerch said his group plans to hold an open meeting Jan. 5 to discuss its next moves. More details to come.

UPDATE: This group has named itself Property Owners of South Arlington. Click here to visit their web site.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photos, clockwise from top: Basketball pep rally, UIL band competition, Summit High School; Charlotte Anderson Elementary School.)

Lease offers improve in Benbrook's Timbercreek

The gas committees for Benbrook's Timbercreek, Trinity Gardens, and Trinity Estates neighborhoods report their lease offer from Fleet Oil and Gas improved during a meeting last week with CEO Tim Fleet:

• Traffic. Vernon Castle and Rio Grande streets "stand to bear the burden" of access to Fleet's drill site, Timbercreek president Pat Dunkin told homeowners in an email. The committees are looking into whether they can gain "alternate access" across property to the south of Rio Grande. The Army Corps of Engineers owns that property. If that access isn't available, "Mr. Fleet indicated that there may be some additional compensation available to the residents of the affected streets," Dunkin said.
• Financial terms. Fleet offered to match XTO Energy's current offer to the neighborhoods of $7,000-per-acre signing bonus, 25 percent royalty, three-year contract, and two-year option, Dunkin said. That was up from Fleet's earlier offer of $6,000 per acre. XTO initially wanted a five-year term, and it boosted its offer to $7,000 from $5,000 in October. The neighborhoods still aren't happy with the bonus offer, given offers that property owners in neighborhoods near Timbercreek/Trinity Gardens/Trinity Estates are seeing, Dunkin said. Fleet indicated the company might be willing to share profits with the neighborhoods if it "strikes a better deal with XTO after securing our leases," Dunkin said.
• Drilling commitments. "If Fleet secures our leases, it will be their intent to press XTO for a drilling commitment" to accelerate drilling in the area and maximize revenue and profit, Dunkin said.
• Charitable donations. "Some consideration (by Fleet) may be given to donating a lump sum" to the three neighborhood associations, Dunkin said.
• XTO. Next up, the associations plan to meet with XTO "to see what they will do for us," Dunkin said.

Click here to read our previous posts on Benbrook area leasing.

Click here for contact info on Benbrook homeowner associations.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photo: November gas lease meeting at Benbrook Senior Center)

N. Benbrook holds out, gets lease competition

Homeowners in North Benbrook began receiving lease offers six months ago from agents acting on behalf of Chesapeake Energy, but things are heating up.

Here's the update:

• Chesapeake -- through both Four Sevens and Colt Exploration --initially offered a signing bonus of $4,000 per acre and 25 percent royalty, but told homeowners at a recent meeting that they would bump that up to $5,000 an acre, said Morris Scales, an organizer in the North Benbrook Neighborhood Association. The royalty is 25 percent and the term five years. Chesapeake has sent offers to virtually all of the North Benbrook area, except parts of Westvale, which may be due to uncertainty over drill sites, the neighborhood says. Scales says the neighborhood believes Chesapeake may be preparing to increase the bonus again.
• HTP and Associates, which the neighborhood believes is signing leases in Benbrook on behalf of Paloma Resources, has sent lease offers broadly to North Benbrook, offering a $5,000 per-acre signing bonus, 25 percent royalty, three-year term, and two-year option, Scales said. HTP also has "indicated they plan to up that to $8,000," Scales said.
• Fleet Oil & Gas, which has been trying to sign leases in the Timbercreek/Trinity Gardens/Trinity Estates neighborhoods in Benbrook, has sent out offers to parts of Westvale, Scales and Gayle Hebert, president of the North Benbrook association, said. They did not know what the terms were. A Fleet landman, who Scales said is the son of a local Italian restaurant owner, sponsored a pizza party last Saturday to try and sign leases.
• North Benbrook has also been trying to interest XTO Energy, and an XTO representative contacted the neighborhood association on Friday to ask whether it would be interested in an $8,000-per-acre signing bonus that would cover the area, Scales and Hebert said. Hebert said the response from the association's attorney was "probably not," but the neighborhood doesn't think that chapter of the story ends there. "XTO has told us they are serious about coming into the area," Scales says.
• The association has been organizing since June, after Chesapeake quickly signed up large numbers of leases in Benbrook's Pecan Valley neighborhood. The association has broken the neighborhood up into teams representing Brookhaven (220 homes), North Benbrook Central (750 homes), and North Benbrook East (375 homes), and assigned two "street captains" per street to pass out fliers, gather names and contact information, and collect the $50-per-household fee for the attorney the neighborhood plans to use, Hebert said.
• The association's attorney has also suggested that it incorporate Fort Worth's Western Hills neighborhood into the North Benbrook negotiating group for more clout, Scales and Hebert said. Representatives of the two neighborhoods were due to meet this weekend, Scales said.

Hebert said the neighborhood has been able to get homeowners to hold off from signing since Chesapeake signed up most of Pecan Valley.

Apart from that neighborhood, "I don't think even 10 percent have signed," she said Saturday, as she was walking through her neighborhood passing out fliers and tickets to the next neighborhood association meeting.

That meeting is 6:30 p.m. Nov. 27 at Waverly Park Elementary School. The meeting is open only to Benbrook East property owners (Sunset Terrace, Dunlap Addition, Westvale, and North Benbrook Addition), Hebert said. Property owners must have tickets from the association to attend. Click here for contact info.

After that meeting, the neighborhood is looking to hold another meeting to bring the Brookhaven, North Benbrook Central, and North Benbrook East groups together, possibly as early as December, Scales said.

Some of the North Benbrook drill sites are controversial. Hebert said the neighborhood is largely OK with one potential Chesapeake site off of Mary's Creek, near Pecan Valley.

But both HTP and Chesapeake, and possibly Fleet, are interested in drill sites in Palomino Estates, a subdivision in the middle of North Benbrook that is under development, Scales and Hebert said. The neighborhood has already put the city on notice that it will oppose any drilling in Palomino Estates.

"It's too close to homes," Hebert said.

It's not clear how the plans of the drilling companies would be affected by the unavailability of sites in Palomino Estates, she and Scales said. The neighborhood isn't clear on where XTO might drill from.

Leasing activity has picked up throughout Benbrook. Competition for leases has broken out in Mont Del/Country Day Estates and homeowners in Timber Creek/Trinity Gardens/Trinity Estates are trying to foment a lease battle. Colt is working leases in North Benbrook for Chesapeake and in Timber Creek for XTO.

We want to hear about what's happening in your part of Benbrook! To fill us in, please drop us an email at snishimura@star-telegram.com.

-- Scott

(S-T photos: Pecan Valley Golf Course, Pecan Valley Park)

Three Benbrook neighborhoods band together

Benbrook's Timbercreek Neighborhood Association, whose property owners have been getting lease offers from Colt Exploration on behalf of XTO Energy, and from Fleet Oil & Gas, says it's teaming up with the Trinity Gardens and Trinity Estates neighborhood associations in the city to negotiate a gas lease deal. Click here for contact info on all three neighborhood associations.

In the meantime, Pat Dunkin, president of the Timbercreek association, reports that XTO has scheduled two lease parties/Q&A sessions, 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, The Gladney Center, 6300 John Ryan Drive, in Southwest Fort Worth.

Dunkin is asking property owners to hold on signing until the neighborhood group weighs in. "If you wish to attend, please feel free," Dunkin said in an email to property owners. "However, we suggest you not take your contract except to make notes, and strongly suggest you do not sign anything."

The Timbercreek/Trinity Gardens/Trinity Estates group takes in "all houses east of Winscott," Dunkin said.

Apart from financial terms, the neighborhoods want to know more about the prospective drill sites (they say ones north of I-20 and behind Trinity Gardens and Trinity Estates have been mentioned), and impact on traffic.

Click here to read Blogging the Barnett Shale's previous posts on Benbrook.

-- Scott Nishimura and Jackie Avila

(photo: Signing in for a gas information meeting last week at the Benbrook Senior Center)

Swamped by interest, Benbrook NA moves meeting

Benbrook's Timbercreek Neighborhood Association says it's attracted so much attention with its planned Nov. 7 meeting that it's decided to switch it to the larger Benbrook Senior Center. The meeting will be 7 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Senior Center, 1010 Mercedes, behind City Hall. Pat Dunkin, president of the association, says any Benbrook property owner north of Vernon Castle and east of Winscott Road should be interested. Here's our previous post about lease offers the Timber Creek and Greenbriar neighborhoods have been receiving. Click here for contact info about Benbrook's neighborhood associations.

-- Scott