Has anyone heard of a law suit in Texas or Oklahoma where the Chesapeake
Energy Company GIS Department was upheld in using GIS maps for boundary
surveys?
Paul-
Closest I could find by a brief search is:
http://blogs.star-telegram.com/barnett_shale/royalty_payments/
I've highlighted the map link below.
You might look to the court reports for the particular state.
Cheers
Derek
April 25, 2008
SE Arlington group backs record lease with XTO Energy
A big southeast Arlington neighborhood group said Friday it has endorsed a lease with XTO Energy that will pay the area’s highest signing bonus yet reported, $26,517 an acre, along with a generous royalty of 26.5 percent. Mark Middleton, an organizer of South East Arlington Communities of Texas (SEACTX), said the group on April 1 actively started seeking bids to lease the mineral rights of roughly 6,000 acres covered by about 20 neighborhoods in the group. It reached agreement with Fort Worth-based XTO Thursday afternoon, Middleton said. SEACTX also drew interest from Chesapeake Energy, Devon Energy and Antero Resources Barnett Corp, he said. Chesapeake is the busiest driller in the Barnett Shale, while Devon is the biggest producer but has mostly stayed out of the urban area. Antero sold its Barnett Shale properties to XTO in early 2005, but recently re-entered the play, Middleton said.
Middleton said he understands that among the drillers, only Chesapeake had secured a drill site, located just south of Seguin High School. But property owners committed to sign with XTO virtually surround that site, and he expects the two big competitors to work out a deal to give XTO use of the site.
XTO and Chesapeake representatives could not be reached for comment late Friday.
SEACTX extends mostly south and east of Arlington Municipal Airport. Click here to view the group's map of its boundaries.
-- Jim Fuquay
Read more: http://blogs.star-telegram.com/barnett_shale/royalty_payments/#ixzz1XJ6WIaHq
Sad but possible since the Texas Railroad commission does not require a surveyor to do the maps and the Texas Board of Surveying does not regulate GIS. This is a MAJOR problem in Texas and the board has its hands full trying to figure out a way to get it under control.
WHAT?
lease with XTO Energy that will pay the area’s highest signing bonus yet reported, $26,517 an acre, along with a generous royalty of 26.5 percent
$26,517 per acre; 26.5%!!! I've never seen numbers like that! There had to have been some kind of bidding war to get there. Or there's a typo in the story. I do know companies that are drilling horizontal wells underneath cities and paying each mineral owner their cut. Which might work out to $25 a year for a typical lot owner- assuming they have minerals.
WHAT?
But look at date of that article: April, 2008. That was during the craziness phase of this gas play.
WHAT?
That's what I love about the gas companies. The price of gas goes up so they hurry out and start projects. When they finally come on line the price drops. Instead of getting projects through the loop when leasing is cheap and costs are down, and getting them online so gas is in the pipeline when the price is up, they wait and then it's a big rodeo. All the drillers are swamped, all the pipeline companies are booked and all the electric suppliers are three years out getting power to the field.
WHAT?
Yep a pipeline job is like a few hundred mile long boom town. you know what I mean.