Marcellus Shale: Wyoming County, PA landowners sign - 8/14/08

A packed Tunkhannock Area High School auditorium buzzed on Wednesday evening with one topic: natural-gas lease profits.

The rush is on in western Wyoming County, with the Wyoming County Landowners’ Group and its more than 45,000 acres in the gas-filled Marcellus Shale region recently accepting a lease agreement with the Unit and Citrus oil and gas drilling companies.
Landowners signed for $2,850 per acre sign-on bonuses, minus consultant payments, for five-year leases with 17 percent drilling royalties. If the lands aren’t drilled within five years, there are two one-year extensions each for $1,000 per acre.
The deal was brokered by Jack Sordoni and Chris Robinson, both oil and gas drillers in western Pennsylvania. The terms of the lease provide them with 15 percent of the $590-per-acre sign-on bonus increase they brokered from the $2,260 per acre the land group initially negotiated.

http://www.timesleader.com/news/Wyoming_County_landowners_sign_brokered_gas-drilling_lease_deals_08-13-2008.html

Barnett Shale - Chesapeake ( CHK ) record mineral rights lease

Chesapeake Energy CHK is working on a 650 acre lease on Lake Worth and Fort Worth properties located in the Barnett Shale. If this mineral rights lease deal gets done, it will be a record! Rumor has is Chesapeake is ready to pay out a $30,000 per acre signing bouns as well.

About 1,200 property owners in Boat Club Estates, Highland Lake Estates, Jinkens Heights, Crestview, Crestridge, Triangle Estates and Lakeview Estates are involved in the lease. The land is roughly bounded by Lake Worth to the west, Azle Avenue to the south, Boat Club Road to the east and Basswood Court to the north.

XTO appears to have been one of the bidders pushing this deal to a record.

Full Article Here