LEARN AND SEEK PROFESSIONAL ADVICE
Before signing, the City of Fort Worth advises its citizens to learn about the terms of the lease and get professional advice. Even though Four Sevens and Dale are both well-known and reputable leasing companies, it’s a good idea to not rely on them for advice since they’ve got a vested interest and profit off of each lease they’re able to close on. There is no need to hurry and sign your lease–these offers will be good for many months.
All the terms in the leases are negotiable, except for your name and address.
AHNA has hired an oil and gas attorney to help our neighborhood get the best possible terms and to advise us on changes, additions and deletions that we should ask for in the lease agreements. The City of Fort Worth warns: “Don’t sign anything you don’t understand”. The terms can’t be re-negotiated once you’ve signed a lease, even upon renewal.
Gas Drilling Update 8/3/2007
The AHNA Gas Drilling Committee has been working on contract negotiation details and developing the structure for a neighborhood group deal that will benefit and protect all of us. The committee is gathering information from other neighborhoods who have already gone through this and have learned that this process takes months, not weeks, so please have faith. Things are still in flux, but it looks like we’re getting closer to stable ground.
Dale Property Services and Four Sevens Energy have been working as landmen, not drillers, in Arlington Heights. Four Sevens’ opening lease offer is a 3 year lease term with a 2 year option, 25% royalty, no surface, bonus of $500 per lot (25′ x 125′) or $5,000 net mineral acre, whichever is greater. Dale’s opening lease offer is a 5 year lease, 25% royalty, no surface, bonus of $600 minimum or $4,000 acre.
These lease offers are “standing offers”. The AHNA Gas Drilling Committee encourages you to wait to sign your lease until the committee has had a chance to do its job to see if it can negotiate more favorable lease terms for our neighborhood.
Here are some recent developments:
Dale Resources has pulled out of our neighborhood. According to Joseph Hayden of Dale Resources, the company will still process the signed leases they receive in the mail, but they will do no more mailings and hold no more meetings.
Four Sevens is taking over the Tuesday night meetings that Dale scheduled and advertised to us on postcards by mail. These meetings will take place every Tuesday at Arlington Heights United Methodist Church from 6pm-8pm through the end of August.
We have heard from other neighborhoods that it’s a good idea to deliver your signed lease in person rather than sending it in and to ask for a check, not a draft or voucher. There have been cases of people waiting for a very long time for their bonus money checks to arrive in the mail.
If you received a lease offer from Dale and haven’t signed it yet, you have not lost the opportunity to sign their lease. You may still send it in to Dale and they will process your lease and turn it over to Chesapeake. If you haven’t been contacted by Four Sevens, but would like to talk to them about signing their lease, you may call them at 817/870-9998. Or you can wait to see what kind of an offer Chesapeake is going to make with the neighborhood which is what the AHNA Gas Drill Committee is working on. It is up to you. AHNA is not trying to tell anyone what to do.
Both Dale and Four Sevens flip their signed leases over to Chesapeake Drilling Company to do the drilling. So, the AHNA Gas Drilling Committee has asked Chesapeake about negotiating a neighborhood deal directly with them, rather than Dale or Four Sevens. Chespeake has agreed to do this. Members of the AHNA Gas Drilling Committee are scheduled to meet with Chesapeake next week.
Chesapeake has told the committee that Four Sevens will administrate all the leases in Arlington Heights.
NO DRILL SITE is planned within the boundaries of our neighborhood association because there is no space for the 2-3 acres required to erect a drill site. So, the negatives associated with a drill site, such as noise and increased truck traffic, will not be things we have to worry about.
Some of our neighbors have expressed their opposition to the drilling altogether and have asked that that side of the story be addressed. We strive to present and consider all points of view in our neighborhood. For now, the first priority is to respond to what the majority of our neighbors clearly want, which is help in negotiating the best possible gas drilling deal. Look for more extensive discussion of gas drilling issues in our next newsletter.
Don’t forget the upcoming gas drilling information meetings sponsored by Arlington Heights Neighborhood Association. These meetings are open to all of our neighbors, whether they’re members of the association or not.
Monday August 13 @ 6:30pm
Arlington Heights Christian Church (PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS DIFFERENT THAN WHERE WE NORMALLY MEET)
4629 Bryce @ Camp Bowie
Monday August 20 @ 6:30pm
Arlington Heights United Methodist Church
4200 Camp Bowie (enter on Hillcrest)
BEFORE YOU SIGN A GAS LEASE
Dale Resources recently sent out postcards advertising gas lease meetings every Tuesday night for the next 6 weeks, complete with a notary to expedite the signing up process. Arlington Heights Neighborhood Association (AHNA) is not a sponsor of these meetings and encourages you to look beyond the amount of the bonus and royalty percentage. Dale and Four Sevens (who has contacted people west of Hulen) are operating as land leasing companies in Arlington Heights who turn over the leases to Chesapeake Drilling Company to do the actual drilling.
Some of you received letters from both Dale and Four Sevens. According to Chesapeake officials, there’s a unresolved boundary overlap between the two companies for properties near Hulen. AHNA is waiting for a decision from Chesapeake about how to handle this.
AHNA GAS DRILLING COMMITTEE
Many of you have asked if AHNA is going to organize as a single negotiating entity, because the more acreage you bring to the table, the more leverage you have to negotiate. We’re working on how to structure this. Even though some of our neighbors have already signed, we’re encouraging everyone to hold off signing until we’ve figured things out. If you’re interested in knowing more about this, please send your e-mail address to christinapatoski@earthlink.net.
AHNA has designated an impressive Gas Drilling Committee made up of AHNA members who are experienced in gas drilling matters. Loretta Rochelle is a land analyst for XTO Energy for the last twenty years and has served as a officer of the Fort Worth Association of Professional Landmen. Parnell McGlinchey is a practicing attorney who grew up in Aledo and is currently representing rural property owners in their gas lease negotiations. He is also on the PTA Board of South Hi Mount School. Sergio Yanes is a registered engineer at DFW Airport who manages the natural gas planning supporting Chesapeake’s natural gas exploration at the airport. Kathy Robertson is a Right of Way agent for Tarrant County and the State of Texas with 15 years of experience of lease negotation.
This committee is strategizing how AHNA can best serve our neighbors to make intelligent decisions about their gas leases.
Disclaimer: This information is provided to you as an informational courtesy. Arlington Heights Neighborhood Association does not lease nor provide advice about leasing private property for gas exploration and drilling, nor do they endorse or are associated with any gas exploration or drilling companies.
League of Neighborhoods offers good information
The Fort Worth League of Neighborhoods’ website contains a lot of detailed information about gas drilling and leases, including calculations of what you might expect as a monthly royalty payment. Check it out at www.fwlna.org.
