Barnett Shale

Parks Area group (S Arl) has $26,500 lease deal

Homeowners in south Arlington report that The Parks Area Property Owners group in south Arlington says it has a lease deal with Paloma Barnett LLC.

The terms: $26,500 per acre, with acreage calculations to the middle of streets; 25 percent royalty free of costs; three year primary lease term and two-year extension at $26,500 per acre.

Information meetings and lease signings: Mt. Olive Ministry Center, 1200 High Point Road, Arlington:

• Tuesdays, June 3 & 10, 4 p.m.-8 p.m. in the church sanctuary
• Thursdays, June 5 & 12, 4 p.m.-8 p.m. in the sanctuary
• Saturdays, June 7 & 14, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., sanctuary

Further information: (817) 332-4900 and ask for the TPAPO lease team.

-- Scott Nishimura

CATS endorses Titan Resources/Caffey contract

CATS, the southwest Arlington group representing homeowners immediately east of Lake Arlington, said Monday it endorsed a lease with Titan Resources/Caffey Group and will hold informational meetings at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Monday at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 5819 W. Pleasant Ridge Dr. The CATS lease pays a $26,000/acre bonus and 25.5 percent royalty for a 3-year term (and a commitment to drill within 30 months), said organizer Jim MacDowell. He said the extra half-point royalty came from the owner of a planned drill site, near Bowman Springs and Shorewood, who contributed a portion of his override on the lease. Titan is affiliated with Hollis R. Sullivan, MacDowell said. He said the deal was the outcome of discussions with five parties that eventually came down to Titan and Paloma Resources, acting on behalf of Chesapeake Energy.

-- Jim Fuquay

MNG in SW Arlington goes with XTO over Carrizo

Monterrey Neighborhood Group in Southwest Arlington reports it will accept a new $22,000-an-acre bonus offer from Permian Land Services on behalf of XTO.

The group had sought $22,500. MNG also reports that Carrizo Oil and Gas on Wednesday came in with three different offers using varying terms and lease forms. Carrizo in a few markets has offered varying bonuses and royalties to homeowner groups. According to MNG committee coordinator Cynthia Elkins, Carrizo's offers are:

• $19,000/acre bonus, 25% Royalty, use the SWAPO2 lease form)
• $20,000/acre bonus, 25% Royalty, Carrizo's lease form
• $27,000/acre bonus, 20% Royalty, Carrizo's lease form

Elkins says Carrizo seems to be pushing the group to use the company's contract, but says her group feels better using its own contract with XTO, which calls for royalties to be calculated on gas value at the point of sale. Left behind in the bidding was Paloma Resources, with a $20,000 bonus and royalties calculated net of production costs.

Here's our previous post on MNG.

-- Jim Fuquay

(Archive photo: Gunn Junior High choir)

Arlington offers jump 303, move north of SEAPO

A property owner just to the north of SEAPO territory in southeast Arlington reports that Carrizo Oil & Gas is making lease offers north of Pioneer Parkway.

The offered terms from Eagle Land Services, Carrizo's agent: $25,000-per-acre bonus, 20 percent royalty, three-year primary term; or, an $18,000-per-acre bonus, 25.5 percent royalty, and three-year term. The offer is the same one that Eagle and Carrizo have been making to homeowners in the SEAPO group, which recently negotiated a deal with Paloma Resources on behalf of Chesapeake Energy. Carrizo claims to be the only company that can reach the neighborhood, which is north of Pioneer Parkway, west of New York Avenue, and east of Collins Street, says the homeowner, who's interested in joining a group.

SEAPO's boundaries are Interstate 20 on the south, Texas 360 on the north, Arkansas Lane on the north, and Matlock Road on the west.

Is a new neighborhood group -- and, if so, yet another new Arlington acronym -- in the making? Please feel free to use the comments section on this blog post to get the conversation going.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photo: Hutcheson Junior High)

Monterrey Neighbor Group (SW. Arl) weighs offers

The Monterrey Neighborhood Group, comprising an area in Southwest Arlington bordered by California, Arkansas, Avonhill and Monterrey streets has signed a letter of intent with Permian Land Services on behalf of XTO Energy with the goal of a $22,500/acre signing bonus and 25 percent royalty, reports MNG coordinator Cynthia Elkins.

The group is working off a contract used by the Oxford Square and Meadowcreek neighborhoods. As it awaits XTO's reply, MNG also has received an offer from Paloma Resources for $20,000 and 25 percent royalty after costs of production, and expects to hear from Carrizo Oil & Gas as well.

-- Jim Fuquay

Another $22,000 lease offer (MANA) in Arlington

MANA -- Murwick-Area Neighbors Association -- of southwest Arlington is celebrating a $22,000-per-acre lease offer.

The group said tonight it has "received a firm offer" from Paloma Resources, acting on behalf of Chesapeake Energy, calling for a $22,000-per-acre signing bonus, 25 percent cost-free royalty, three-year lease, and two-year option.

MANA leaders said the group is "pleased" to announce the offer. "We have been working hard through the weekend going over the deal that was offered," MANA said.

It's the latest per-acre bonus that reached the same level. SEAPO (Southeast Arlington Property Owners) announced on Friday that it reached an agreement with Paloma for $22,000 per acre and a 25 percent cost-free royalty. That group is now getting courted by agents for Carrizo Oil & Gas, offering a $25,000 bonus but lesser royalty.

MANA advised homeowners to hold off acting on their leases until the group signs off on a recommended lease with Paloma. Carrizo also is interested in the MANA territory.

"How that we have announced this fantastic information, we expect to have unscrupulous landmen trying to sign up MANA homeowners with non-MANA-approved leases, different amounts for the signing bonus, and/or royalty payments," MANA says on its web site. "We have see many underhanded tactics done to other neighborhood groups that, unfortunately, we have to be prepared for."

MANA is bounded by Interstate 20 on the south, Kelly Elliott on the east, Mayfield Road on the north, and Little Road and Green Oaks on the west. Click here to view a map of the group's coverage area.

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photos: Veterans Day at Little Elementary, special sunrise service at Saint Barnabas United Methodist)

Carrizo tries to crash SE Arlington party

And a fine predicament this is.

Just Friday, SEAPO (Southeast Arlington Property Owners) leaders announced they won an area neighborhood record $22,000-per-acre lease bonus, 25 percent cost-free royalty, and other provisions with Paloma Resources, which is signing leases there on behalf of Chesapeake Energy. The deal was done through a sealed bid process.

The bonus offer by itself has set Arlington abuzz this weekend. But now, neighborhood leaders confirm that agents for the rival Carrizo Oil & Gas have been going door to door over the last few days, offering a lease with a $25,000-per-acre signing bonus and 25 percent royalty.

Jim Colley, a lead SEAPO organizer, says the agents working on behalf of Carrizo portray their offer as better. But he said the situations aren't the same. The Paloma deal was one won through the bidding process, he asserts, while Carrizo's proposal is just an offer. The Paloma deal now has an inferior bonus, Colley concedes, but the "back end" will cost more, because the Carrizo-offered royalty subtracts production costs, he said. The Paloma royalty does not.

"Our people are pretty well educated" and will recognize the differences, Colley said.

-- Scott Nishimura

Happy Days in Arlington...

The middle-class homeowners who make up Southeast Arlington Property Owners (SEAPO) may be ecstatic over the record-busting $22,000-per-acre bonus their neighborhood negotiators just scored in a sealed-bid lease competition.

But there may be a happier guy in Arlington. That's Jeff Richman, an organizer of the west Arlington neighborhood group CATS, which is trying to organize a big portion of homeowners around Lake Arlington and keep them from bolting and signing an $18,000-per-acre offer from Permian Land Services, which is working the area on behalf of XTO Energy. The $18k was among the previous tops in neighborhood lease offers in the Barnett Shale.

"That's great news," Richman said last night when he learned of the SEAPO deal, which Paloma Resources offered on behalf of Chesapeake Energy.

The CATS crew is organizing property owners in the area from I-20 on the south to Pioneer Parkway on the north, Little Road on the east, and Lake Arlington on the west. (Click here to read our previous post on CATS and click here to visit the group's web site.) It's a huge area that even aspires to include the smaller Little Green Ark group at Little Road and Arkansas Lane.

The CATS and Little Green Ark groups are discussing a possible linkup. Richman says somebody claiming to represent CATS told Little Green Ark homeowners at a meeting Thursday night that CATS was already too big for Little Green Ark.

But Richman says that claim is not true, no committee members  from CATS attended the Little Green Ark's meeting, and that CATS is still interested in talks with Little Green Ark.

"I talked to all my committee members and no committee members were even at that meeting last night," Richman said Friday. Why not? Because CATS wants to respect Little Green Ark's organizing efforts, he said.

He also said chatter emerged from a Paloma lease meeting that CATS' organizers don't live in Arlington. All of CATS' organizers live in the neighborhoods and the group is not paying for outside advice, he said. He said an attorney from Fort Worth is advising CATS pro-bono.

"People ask me, well, what are you getting paid?" says Richman, who is a salesman of packaged trial-size toiletry products and says he's lived in Arington for years. "I'm not getting paid a cent."

CATS' task of organizing hundreds of homes that fall under 20 homeowner associations has been daunting, Richman said. He acknowledges some homeowners may have already signed leases at meetings that land agents for Paloma Resources have been holding, (Paloma is offering to sign leases in the area on behalf of Chesapeake Energy, but its offered terms are lower at this point.)

Richman said homeowners who are signing may not be aware of CATS' efforts to organize property owners.

"We're doing a good job," Richman said. "I know we could be doing better. We don't have a budget. We all work. It's hard for us to get all this done."

-- Scott Nishimura

(Photos: Lake Arlington)

$22,000 bonus in Southeast Arlington

It will be a happy signing ceremony in Southeast Arlington this coming week.

The bidding process used by the Southeast Arlington Property Owners (SEAPO) group has gleaned a record signing bonus of $22,000 with a 25 percent royalty. The term of the mineral rights lease is three years with a two year option. In order to get the two-year option, the drilling company would have to pay the full bonus amount again, said Jim Colley, one of the primary organizers of the neighbhorhood group. Click here to visit SEAPO's web site.

UPDATE: Click here to read staffer Bill Bowen's story on the SEAPO deal.

In less than four weeks, the group organized, gathered a list of residents, organzied a 10-member negotiating committee and solicited bids from drilling and mineral rights  leasing companies. The group also held informational meetings at a local church that also included Spanish and Vietnamese language translators. The neighbhorhood represents more than 7,600 residential parcels spread across 1,895 acres. It is bounded by Interstate 20, Matlock Road, Texas Highway 360 and Arkansas lane.

"We pretty much delivered the entire neighborhood so we negotiated from a position of strength," Colley said.

The winning bid was submitted by Paloma Resources representing Chesapeake Energy.

Jerri Robbins, manager of public relations in the Barnett Shale field for Chesapeake Enrgy, wouldn't elaborate on the record-setting deal.

"There was a bid process and Paloma won," Robbins said.

The bid tops the previous record of about $18,000 in southern Fort Worth that was reported by property owners but never confirmed by the company.

Lease signings for the Southeast Arlington neighborhood will begin next week at the Mayfield Road Baptist Church and the following week at the Vietnamese Martyr's Catholic Church at the intersection of Mayfield Road and Collins Street. 

-- Bill Bowen

(Photos: Bowie High School football, girls basketball, graduation)

SW Arlington group reports drill site

Little Green Ark, a new neighborhood group in southwest Arlington, reports that Paloma Resources has signed a lease for a drilling site on land owned by Lake Arlington Baptist Church, 2912 Little Road. The group says it would open to development the area located south of Arkansas Road, east of Green Oaks Boulevard and west of Little Road. The group figures it has most of the Wooded Acres neighborhood, but perhaps a third of the overall area.

The group's area  falls within the proposed boundaries of the much larger CATS group, and there are discussions to see if Little Green Ark should join forces with CATS. For out latest post on CATS, click here. In the meantime, Little Green Ark has meetings planned for March 4 and March 6, both at 7 p.m. at the Lake Arlington Baptist Church sanctuary.

-- Jim Fuquay

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