Barnett Shale

Grande Energy gets up to $250 million for future projects

Grande Energy of Fort Worth said Wednesday it struck an agreement with oilfield services giant Schlumberger and a U.S. subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. to spend up to $250 million over 10 years on shale gas and other unconventional gas plays in North America. Grande President Robert Gaudin said the deal “brings together key players in land, energy financing and oilfield services.” Grande Energy Exploration & Production Co., an entity created for this agreement, will locate prospects, Mitsubishi will finance land acquisition and development, and Schlumberger will handle drilling, completion and other technical operations, Gaudin said.

See Thursday's Star-Telegram for the full report.

-- Jim Fuquay

Down under in Mansfield: Info blackout on XTO deal

Well, they're apparently shut up tighter than the Taliban down there at Mansfield South United. Over the weekend, we blogged that the neighborhood group had agreed to terms with XTO Energy (based on letters XTO is sending out to property owners). No specifics on the terms or the drill site or what happens next, other than that interested property owners are to contact XTO's land agent, Permian Land Services. XTO has competition (see the previous blog post) in Grande Energy/Range Resources, which, at last we heard, was offering a $25,000-per-acre lease bonus.

Reached by email at mjphelan@aol.com, Mike Phelan, Mansfield South's organizer, said he was in Australia and won't return until late April, when he will be back in touch. "G' day," he said.

Update: There's a bit of a comment string going on over at the Debbie Lane Pool web site about the MSU deal. At least one commenter professes to know all the neighborhoods that are covered by MSU. You'll have to "Join the Group" to check in on the chatter.

Update II: Check out the Comments string on this post. One commenter claims to know the terms of the MSU deal with XTO and lays them out here.

-- Scott Nishimura

XTO and Mansfield South United agree on terms...

Here's more on Mansfield South United...

Permian Land Services' letter says XTO Energy and Mansfield South have agreed to terms on a gas lease, and invites property owners in the group to contact Permian for a lease packet. The letter doesn't say what the terms are and doesn't clarify where the drill site would be. More information as we get it. If any of our loyal readers find out what the terms are, we'd love to hear about it here at the Barnett Shale blog. And if Grande Energy responds, we'd love to hear about that, too!

Click here to read our previous posts about Mansfield South United.

-- Scott Nishimura

What happens in Mansfield stays in Mansfield...

Gas lease offers have topped $25,000 thus far for Mansfield South United's neighborhoods. Does that portend a record-shattering deal? Try getting any information out of the secretive MSU, which goes by the mantra "What happens in MSU stays in MSU."

Grande Energy, in partnership with Range Resources, has the latest public offer, at $25,000 per acre. That info is out because Grande sends its offers directly to property owners. MSU's leaders also tell homeowners they're negotiating with XTO Energy, and suggest in recent communications that XTO is the favored bidder among negotiating committee members.

Finally, Mansfield South abuts the Debbie Lane Pool group, which recently struck an agreement with Edge Resources that Dale Resources is now trying to upend. Some homeowners around Grande's well site at Walnut Creek Country Club fall into both MSU and the Debbie Lane Pool.

MSU isn't giving specifics to homeowners on its negotiations. What exactly goes on in those meetings?

-- Scott Nishimura

Mansfield South United's lot gets better, overnight

Property owners in the Mansfield South United group are seeing better offers.

A Mansfield property owner in the Walnut Creek Valley neighborhood reports Range Resources/Grande Energy has freshened up its offer. The offered terms, mailed to homeowners: $25,000 per acre, 25 percent royalty, three-year term, and two-year option at $25,000 per acre. Here are our previous posts on Mansfield South United.

Because of the location of the drill site at Walnut Creek Country Club, at least some portions of Walnut Creek Valley are part of both the Mansfield South and Debbie Lane Pool groups.

-- Scott Nishimura

Mansfield (Mansfield South) gets better offer

Homeowners in Mansfield's Mansfield South United group are seeing fresh lease offers in their mailboxes this weekend. Grande Energy raised its offer to $17,500-per-acre signing bonus and a 23 percent royalty.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photo: Mansfield High girls golf practice at Walnut Creek)

Mansfield/Walnut Creek residents to meet

Organizers in the Mansfield/Walnut Creek neighborhood have set a meeting for 7:30 p.m.Tuesday (Oct. 30) at the Walnut Creek Country Club Pavilion to discuss mineral rights lease offers from Grande Energy.

After noting the success negotiating favorable leases by neighborhood associations in Berkeley, Mistletoe Heights and Ryan Place, the organizers have concluded that the secret is primarily due to being organized, appointing committee members to negotiate a standard lease, and offering it to residents, who are free to sign it or not.

The Mansfield/Walnut Creek group is putting together what it calls a "gas lease register" for residents who have not yet signed a lease and who want to participate in the group. Organizers are sending an Excel spreadsheet to interested residents, asking for legal owners' names, address, legal description of the property (lot and block number and survey, available from the Tarrant Appraisal District  at www.tad.org or your deed) and an email address.

For more information  or to obtain a form, contact Michael J. Phelan at MJPHELAN@aol.com or Shane Farrell at  Shane_28@msn.com.

-- Jim