Barnett Shale

SWAPO 2 calls meeting, blasts leasing company

Southwest Arlington Property Owners 2, which plans its first membership meeting Feb. 12, says it has asked Chesapeake Energy to allow someone other than Four Sevens Energy to conduct leasing in parts of the SWAPO2 area, citing dishonest practices by Four Sevens agents. Organizer Tom Rodgers said the group on Feb. 6 sent a certified letter to Chesapeake's district landman requesting that Dale Property or other Chesapeake agent negotiate on Chesapeake's behalf. Rodgers said his group formally represents between 400 and 500 owners of the approximately  2,500 tracts in the group's boundaries, pictured here. Representatives of Chesapeake and Four Sevens were not immediately available Thursday for comment.

Rodgers said SWAPO2, a clone of the highly successful SWAPO group that has already negotiated high-paying mineral rights leases, is in ongoing talks with Dale Property and also with Carburante Cos., an agent for Carrizo Oil and Gas. He said the group also has invited bids from Hollis R. Sullivan and XTO Energy but is not in active talks with those companies. Rodgers said the plan is replicate the SWAPO model  of developing a common lease, requesting sealed bids from interested operators, and endorsing the best offer. Property owners remain free to sign their own leases or decline to sign any lease, he said.

SWAPO2's meeting is set for 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 12, at Grace Presbyterian Church, 5500 Mansfield Road, in Arlington. The meeting is open only to property owners and media. The agenda includes appointment of street captains, identification of current bidders and ratification of the bidding process.

-- Jim Fuquay

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

(Photos: Band, football practice at Kennedale High School)

Turner Warnell (S. Arl) neighborhoods join up

A group of neighborhoods off of Turner Warnell in far southwest Arlington is organizing a response to lease offers.

The South Pointe I and II, South Cooper I and II, Cherry Creek and Lonesome Dove neighborhoods -- north and south of Turner Warnell, east of South Cooper Street and west of Matlock Road, almost to Mansfield -- have joined up and scheduled an informational meeting, 1 p.m.-2 p.m. Saturday Jan. 12 at the Bethlehem Baptist Church, 1188 W. Broad St. in Mansfield.

Here's our most recent blog post on the group.

Dale Resources, signing leases on behalf of Chesapeake Energy, is offering to sign leases in the South Pointe and South Cooper neighborhoods at $1,000-per-lot signing bonuses, 25 percent royalty, three-year term, two-year option, and 640-acre pooling, the neighborhoods say. Hollis R. Sullivan is offering the same bonus in those neighborhoods.

In the Cherry Creek and Lonesome Dove neighborhoods, Sullivan is offering to sign leases at a bonus of $1,000 per lot, having recently raised that from $200, said Thomas Lerch, one of the neighborhood organizers. Dale is not offering leases in Cherry Creek and Lonesome Dove, he said.

Lerch said the neighborhoods continue to get the word out through yard signs and fliers, and are currently organizing, signing up members, and trying to determine whether to hire an attorney.

To contact the group: thlerch@tx.rr.com.

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

-- Scott Nishimura

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

SW Arlington group gets $16,850-per-acre bonus

SWAPO, a group representing several southwest Arlington neighborhoods, reports it's negotiated a lease agreement with GMB Professional Land Services on behalf of Paloma Resources that calls for a $16,850-per-acre signing bonus and 25 percent royalty. The signing bonus is the highest thus far anong neighborhood leases in the Barnett Shale.

Click here to view a map of SWAPO's coverage area. The group says the area is expanded and now includes neighborhoods from U.S. 287 and Eden Road on the west, Sublett and Collard roads on the north, Hardisty on the east, and Curry Road on the south. S.J. Stovall and Allan Saxe parks are within the area.

SWAPO stoked competition for its leases from Paloma, Dale Resources on behalf of Chesapeake Energy, and Caffey on behalf of Hollis R. Sullivan, which has been signing leases in south Arlington and Kennedale.

Update: Click here for the full Star-Telegram story on this deal.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photos: Festival at S.J. Stovall Park)

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.)

More offers in Arlington

Blogging the Barnett Shale has learned of a slate of fresh offers in Arlington. Here they are:

Southwest Arlington, Huntwick Addition -- south of Mayfield Road off of Woodside Drive, east of Little Road and north of Pleasant Ridge. The terms from Paloma Resources: $10,000-per-acre signing bonus, 25 percent royalty, three-year term, two-year option.

The Oaks, north of Division, west of Bowen. Western Production Co., $5,000 per acre signing bonus, 25 percent royalty. The blog is seeking more info about this situation.

Woodbine Neighbors -- click here for their web site -- reports it's met with Paloma to discuss a lease. This neighborhood is in the Calendar Road-to-Redstone Drive area, south of Sublett Road to Bowen Road. The blog is seeking more info about this situation and will report as we get it.

Meadow Vista Estates Addition, South Arlington, east of Matlock Road, south of East Sublett, west of Silo Road/Mansfield Webb, near Workman Park. A homeowner reports Wyldfire Energy of Mansfield, on behalf of Hollis R. Sullivan. Inc. is offering to sign up leases. Details are sketchy other than a royalty offer of 22 percent. More info as we get it. Here's a link to a group in Kennedale that has lease offers from Hollis Sullivan. This neighborhood is close to Woodbine.

-- Scott Nishimura