Barnett Shale

North Keller group organized, waiting for an offer

There's a group that's up and running in the Keller area that includes more than 1,000 acres. Now all it needs is an offer.

The North Keller Neighbors Together group, which includes property owners in Keller, Westlake and Southlake, has been together for about a year, but is not currently considering any offers, said Melanie Belcheff, an organizer of the NKNT.

Some members of the NKNT received offers last year of about $5,500 per acre and a 25 percent royalty, with costs included, from Hillwood Energy and its representative Doyle Land Services. But the companies didn't want to negotiate, so the group rejected the offer "as insufficient," Belcheff wrote in an e-mail to the Star-Telegram. The offer didn't include environmental or royalty fairness terms, she wrote.

Meanwhile, the group continues to meet and add more property owners. Belcheff said NKNT could soon grow to more than 2,000 acres in size.

You can check out the group's website here.

Here's a look at what the Keller Citizen wrote about this neighborhood group.

--David Wethe

Dale goes after leases in NE Tarrant County

  Here's the full story from S-T staffer David Wethe on Dale Resources' pitch to neighborhood groups in Colleyville, Southlake, North Richland Hills, and Keller for leases. The offer could apply broadly to people in Colleyville and Southlake. Don't have a lease offer from Dale? Read this story to find out more on what you can do to find out if you're eligible.

Here's S-T staffer Adrienne Nettles' story from earlier this week on the Southlake City Council's consideration of changes that would allow drilling closer to homes.

Pictured is a map of drill sites that Dale Resources says Chesapeake has secured in the affected Northeast Tarrant County area. Dale reps handed the map out to neighborhood leaders at a meeting Tuesday night.

-- Scott Nishimura

More offers move into Southlake...

An agent for Hillwood Energy is offering to sign leases in Southlake's Cedar Oaks Estates neighborhood, southwest of Texas 114, south of Dove Road, and east of Randol Mill Avenue.

Doyle Land Services is sending out letters telling property owners that formal lease offers are coming soon. Offered terms: $5,500 per acre, three-year term and two-year option, $3,650 payment for a lease extension, 25 percent royalty, no surface access rights, and 30-day period after which the offer would expire.

Hillwood Energy is a Perot company and affiliate of Hillwood Development Co.

Cedar Oaks is northwest of properties in the White Chapel corridor of Southlake that have been receiving lease offers.

-- Scott Nishimura