Barnett Shale

XTO tries to move in on Chesapeake's Haltom deal

Folks in Haltom City are in a tizzy these days because XTO Energy is trying to upend the Haltom City Joint Neighorhood Committee's deal with Chesapeake Energy.

-- Scott Nishimura

Haltom City group inks for more than $20,000

A group of about 900 property owners in Haltom City agreed to a natural-gas deal with Dale Resources that will pay them a signing bonus of $20,050 per acre.

The Haltom City Joint Neighborhood Committee, which represents about 350 to 400 acres, agreed to the lease with Dale, representing Chesapeake Energy, on Friday. The three-year lease will pay a royalty of 25 percent and has the option for an additional two years with another signing bonus of $15,000.

Checks will be cut at the time of leasing signing, which will be held Wednesday through Friday at the Haltom City Recreation Center.

The group had been working on a deal with Dale since January, but the offers didn’t start going up noticeably until XTO Energy started competing in the area about four weeks ago, said Sandra Tork, one of the group’s organizers. The group could have pushed for more money, but found it difficult keeping everyone together, she said.

“Our chickens and our cats started scattering, so we thought we better get this closed,” Tork said. “It gets to be a little nerve frazzling after a while.”

Here's our print story on the deal.

--David Wethe

XTO Energy offers leases in Haltom City

An S-T staffer who lives in Haltom City's Browning Heights neighborhood says XTO Energy has now entered the leasing picture there, joining two competitors for leases.

A postcard received on Monday advertised an offer that appeared to match a previous offer by Dale Resources. The terms: $12,500 per net mineral acre, 25 percent royalty, and a 3-year primary term with 2 year option at $10,000 per acre.

The postcard reads: "XTO wishes to announce the expansion of its Barnett Shale leasing project to include the Haltom City Area of Tarrant County, Texas. Please contact us for more information."

-- Scott Nishimura

Big Fossil Creek area getting offers of $12,500

A group calling itself the Little Fossil Floodway Neighborhood Property Associates says it has received an offer from Dale Resources, acting on behalf of Chesapeake Energy, for $12,500 an acre, 25 percent royalty and a 3-year primary term with a 2-year extension.

But that's not good enough, said Roger Cobb, one of the founders of Little Fossil Floodway.

"We're going for $18,000 to $20,000," he said.

Little Fossil Floodway includes a group called the Haltom City Joint Neighborhood Committee, which we told you about yesterday in this post. But in yesterday's post, we also told you about a $12,500 bonus offer from Chesapeake going to Haltom City's Browning Heights Neighborhood.

But Browning Heights is not part of the Little Fossil Floodway group, said Sandra Tork, another leader of Little Fossil Floodway.

In letters that started hitting mailboxes on Saturday, Dale Resources is telling the 450 homeowners in Little Fossil Floodway that it's holding signing dates for its offer on Friday and Saturday.

But Cobb and Tork say they're trying to call all 450 property owners and convince them to not sign later this week and instead hold out for a better offer. So far, they say they're getting good responses that homeowners will wait.

Little Fossil Floodway will hold its own meeting, with invites to all property owners in its area, at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Moose Lodge in Haltom City. That's at 5001 Bernice Street.

Rough boundaries for the group are Northeast 28th Street on the south, Eastridge Drive on the west, Vicki Street on the north and Big Fossil Creek. It's all south of 820 near 183.

--David Wethe

Offers getting better in Haltom City, group forming

Lease offers are suddenly getting better in Haltom City's Browning Heights neighborhood, after slumbering for several months.

Over the weekend, Dale Resources drove up with a new offer, this time at $12,500 per acre and a 25 percent royalty mailed to property owners.

Last week, a property owner tipped us off to a lease offer from Dale that included a $5,000-per-acre bonus in Browning Heights. While property owners might sniff at that, it was a significant improvement over offers that went out last fall from another company.

Turns out, a group calling itself the Haltom City Joint Neighborhood Committee (click here for information on joining, and for updates from it), has been talking to Dale. The group reports on its web site that Dale's offers had moved up to $10,000 per acre in recent weeks, and that Dale told the group it was going to go ahead and mail the latest new offers directly to property owners.

"We request that you please disregard this mailing by Dale if you receive one," the group says.

-- Scott Nishimura