Barnett Shale

Bedford-Colleyville-Grapevine deal with Titan suspended

Titan Operating today informed Bedford-Colleyville Mineral Rights Coalition that it plans to re-examine its
leasing strategy given the recent turmoil in world economic markets, the homeowner group reports. "Therefore, effective immediately, all signing sessions previously scheduled by BC-MRC have been suspended," B-C MRC said in an email to members. According to the email, "Titan has indicated that it will honor all executed lease agreements for which a bank draft has already been issued, including those signed Saturday, Oct. 18 at a scheduled signing session in Euless. According to Titan, it plans to suspend leasing on a temporary basis pending an executive management meeting and possible discussions with its financial partner(s).  Titan has indicated they will communicate the results of their
discussions to BC-MRC at the conclusion of its review process." 

Titan follows similar moves by Chesapeake Energy, Vantage Energy and XTO Energy in the past week as producers struggle with both falling natural gas prices and a tight credit market. Titan is backed by Riverstone Holdings, a private equity group that also has a stake in Vantage Energy.

-- Jim Fuquay

Bedford-Colleyville-Grapevine group endorses Titan/Caffey offer

Bedford Colleyville Mineral Rights Coalition says it is recommending a mineral rights lease from Titan Operating and its land company, Caffey Group, for close to 10,000 property owners in the group's approximately 5,000 acres in Northeast Tarrant County. The group says it represents at least 80 percent of the land in its boundaries, generally Colleyville Boulevard/Brown Trail to the west, Hall-Johnson to the north, Texas 121 to the east and Harwood Road to the south. The three-year lease pays a bonus of $25,000 an acre and a royalty of 25.5 percent cost-free, and also includes environmental provisions that call for compressor stations to be completely housed. In an e-mail to members, organizers said.

It's only the most recent win for Titan, a new group formed by executives with experience at other large Barnett Shale producers. The group, with Caffey, also has won backing from big homeowner groups in southwest Arlington. Information and signing meetings will be publicized on the group's web site at http://www.bc-mrc.org.

-- Jim Fuquay

360 Northwest Coalition inks $23,500 deal with Chesapeake

360 Northwest Coalition, representing more than 3,500 homeowners and over 1,500 acres just south and west of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, reports that on Tuesday it endorsed Chesapeake Energy's mineral rights lease offer, which pays a bonus of $23,500 an acre, 25 percent royalty and including other favorable terms. XTO Energy was also competing for the area, which is in Euless and Grapevine in the triangle formed by Texas 360, Texas 121 and Mid-Cities Boulevard. The Coalition was launched in February a couple of months after Cimmaron Field Services, representing Chesapeake, began soliciting leases paying a $3,000 bonus and 20 percent royalty. "The three-year ease was unanimously endorsed by the leaders of 21 subdivisions and neighborhood associations," the group reported on its website. It culminated five months of negotiations.

Among the terms reported by the Coalition are environmental protections that the group says are more restrictive than city ordinances, including provisions ranging from "road usage to groundwater protection, noise suppression, pollution constraints, fencing, lighting, contamination, hazardous materials and cleanup." Like many leases negotiated by neighborhood groups, the lease also includes a cost-free royalty and requires Chesapeake to cover any costs of obtaining subordination agreements from mortgage lenders. The lease is available to all property owners within Coalition boundaries who have not previously signed a mineral rights lease, it says. Bonus checks are promised within 30 business days (six weeks) of signing, and late fees will apply to checks that miss that deadline.

To see what we've previously reported on 360 Northwest Coalition, click here.

-- Jim Fuquay

Grapevine leasing jumps Hall Johnson, goes south

A property owner in Grapevine south of Hall Johnson Road and west of Texas 121 reports receiving a letter from Davis Land Services, working the area on behalf of Chesapeake Energy. The letter says Davis will be sending out formal lease offers soon. It doesn't specify terms.

Leasing in Grapevine has been going on for months north of Hall Johnson Road and east of Texas 183, but hasn't pushed south of Hall Johnson.

Click here to read our previous Grapevine posts.

Click here to read our previous Colleyville posts, and here to read our Southlake posts.

-- Scott Nishimura

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

Colleyville/Grapevine group forms

We've got another nifty new name for a neighborhood gas lease coalition. This one, a group of several homeowner associations in Northeast Colleyville and Southwest Grapevine, is going by the name Pool Road Coalition.

The PRC has more than 900 residents and 450 acres, and is bounded by Pool Road on the east, Hall Johnson Road on the south, and Texas 26/Colleyville Boulevard on the west, said Michael Muhm, one of the organizers. Participating homeowner associations include Carriage Glen, Heritage Colony, Highland Meadows, Longwood, and Ross Downs Estates. All are in Colleyville except Heritage Colony, which is just east of Pool Road in Grapevine.

The group has competition for its leases. Dale Resources, on behalf of Chesapeake Energy, has offered an $11,400 lease bonus, 25 percent royalty with no deductions for transportation and production, three-year primary term, and two-year option. "It's a lessor-friendly lease," Muhm says.

XTO Energy is offering an $7,000 lease bonus, 25 percent royalty with deductions for costs, and a five-year term. "It's a typical lease, but we're expecting to get an update from them this week," Muhm said.

Chesapeake is telling the neighborhood its drill sites would be at Pool Road and Texas 26 behind a drug store, and at the northwest corner of Texas 26 and John McCain Road. Muhm said XTO hasn't told  his group where its drill sites would be. "If you're going to drill over here, we want to know where you're going to drill," Muhm said.

Click here to visit the group's web site. To contact the group, send them an email at mike@rpsw.biz

-- Scott Nishimura

Competition in Colleyville?

Colleyville's Ross Downs Homeowner Association -- west of Pool Road, north of Hall-Johnson, and east of Texas 26 -- reports lease inquiries from both Dale Resources and Colt Exploration (on behalf of XTO Energy) have been popping up in mailboxes in the last several days.

Dale is distributing letters saying it will send out lease offers soon, saod Michael Muhm, president of the Ross Downs HOA, a mandatory association of 320 homes. Colt/XTO has sent out full lease packets offering a $7,000 per-acre signing bonus and 25 percent royalty, he said. Click here to visit the homeowner association's web site.

The Ross Downs Association (rossdowns@acclaimmgmt.com) has scheduled a homeowner meeting, 7 p.m.-9 p.m. Thursday Feb. 28 at the Colleyville Center, 5301 Riverwalk Drive.

The Ross Downs offers are the latest neighborhood offers in Colleyville, but the first reported to the S-T involving competition between gas companies. Click here to read our previous posts on Colleyville lease offers. Neighborhoods on John McCain Road west of Texas 26 and the Longwood Estates @ Ross Downs subdivision next to the Ross Downs HOA have reported offers or inquiries. Colt/XTO are offering to sign leases in the John McCain area, and Dale is offering to sign leases in the Longwood Estates @ Ross Downs subdivision. Dale has worked on behalf of Chesapeake Energy in Tarrant County leasing, although Colleyville homeowners say its letters to those neighborhoods don't identify Chesapeake.

Muhm said his HOA will probably contact other area associations to determine whether it makes sense to try and link up on a gas lease negotiation. That will include Highland Meadows, which is next door to Ross Downs but may not yet have received offers, he said. To the east of Pool Road and north of Hall-Johnson, neighboring Grapevine has been receiving lease offers.

"This is like a brush fire," he said. His association board as recently as January was discussing "Maybe, What If?" scenarios on gas leases and was thinking of bringing up the issue again for a vigorous talk in in April.

Unlike many neighborhoods where gas lease bonus payments can amount to several mortgage payments, the Colleyville homeowners are likely to view the windfall in different ways, Muhm acknowledged.

Muhm said the largest lots in Ross Downs are about half an acre, and move down to a quarter-acre. His neighborhood is wealthy and homeowners like himself -- Muhm owns a recognition and signage company -- aren't unusual.

"Maybe you put (the money) in the kid's college fund, maybe you take a trip," Muhm said. "It's not life-changing, it's not grocery money, it's not going to make the mortgage payments."

-- Scott Nishimura

Click here to read Colleyville's gas drilling ordinance.

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

Is your neighborhood receiving lease offers? Click here to tell us about it!

(Photos: Colleyville Public Library, Highland Meadows church program)

Getting the drift: Colleyville homeowners

Homeowners in Colleyville's Williamsburg Estates and Ann's Oaks neighborhoods report lease offers have popped up in their mailboxes.

The offers, from a Colt Exploration agent acting on behalf of XTO Energy: $6,500-per-acre signing bonus, 25 percent royalty, non-surface access, five-year term.

The neighborhoods are off of John McCain (not that John McCain) Road, east of Pleasant Run Road, southwest of Timarron, and west of Grapevine Highway (26). Home sites in the area typically start at half an acre and can run into several acres.

Homeowners have already met once, earlier this week, and are meeting again. The meeting will be 7 p.m. Feb. 11 at the home of Ann Hardy, 7100 Waldon Court, Colleyville. Click here for contact information.

Click here to read Colleyville's gas drilling ordinance.

Click here to read a City of Bedford analysis that compares gas drilling ordinances in the area.

Click here for information on contacting Colleyville neighborhood associations.

Click here to view model lease forms negotiated by area neighborhoods.

And, what happens if you don't sign? Click here for an answer to that question.

-- Scott Nishimura

Is your neigbhorhood receiving lease offers? Click here to tell us about it!

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

(Photos: Colleyville Town Center)