Barnett Shale 2007 roundup bulletpoints

TradingMarkets.com has an end of year piece in which they report four statistics pertinent to the Barnett Shale operations in North Texas.

• 100,000-plus:  Number of mineral rights leases filed in Tarrant County in 2007.
• 23,511:  Highest per-acre bonus reported on a commercial or municipal mineral rights lease.
• 15,850:  Highest per-acre bonus reported on a residential mineral rights lease.
• 2,078,512,000:  Average daily natural gas production in cubic feet in the Barnett Shale field in the year’s first eight months.

We’ve got our eyes on stat #3.

Why should Coronet Estates unite? Here are some good reasons

Star-Telegram reporter Jim Fuqua has written an interesting story about how neighborhoods can and do succeed in negotiations with gas lease companies.   Here are some points I culled from his article:

• Understand that the leasing companies advantage depends on homeowners remaining fragmented and not united
• Learn from other neighborhoods who’ve successfully negotiated good lease terms
• Communicate clearly and often with each other
• Listen and learn from the leasing companies presentations but hold off signing until a better deal can be reached as a group.
• Remain united and on task of negotiating a better deal until you get it
• Having a homeowners’ association is not vital, but being unified is

At the end of the article he gives some advice for neighborhoods coming together for negotiating mineral rights:

1) Meet and share ideas
2) Communicate – via email (or visit this blog)
3) Patience pays off
4) When leasing companies compete, you win
5) Convince individuals to join the group
6) Certainly try to persuade but respect a person’s right to exercise his or her free will
7) Don’t reinvent the wheel, learn from others

Go here to read the full article “With piles of dollars at stake, neighbor unite.”