Bent County Leases for heavy crude

I have been offered $125 per mineral acre for a lease in Northern Bent County adjacent to Adobe Creek Reservoir. Has anyone had contacts for leases in this area?

My family is being offered $150 by Diamond Resource but we are still researching it. Tried checking Col. gov. website but couldn't find that Bent County posted their info on current well activity, etc.

Hi Teryll

Is your land in Bent County? If so, where?

Jeris

Teryll Norton said:

My family is being offered $150 by Diamond Resource but we are still researching it. Tried checking Col. gov. website but couldn't find that Bent County posted their info on current well activity, etc.

Teryll: I'm a MR owner in Bent County. Check out my comment on the Bent County Oil & Gas link. I checked the Kiowa County Oil & Gas link and found some great information. Looks as though $420+ per acre is in order. KB

Where is your section in Bent Co? Ours is between state auction sections that went for $410 - $450. Charlie Donlin, landman with Diamond Resource told my sister "that these prices are driven from the "State Auction" process and that Individual Owners cannot create prices in the same way. He said that the interest in this land area started about 8-9 months ago and at first prices were at $25.00 t0 $50.00 per acre." She emailed me that since we are not experts we have to leave the matter to the attorney she hired and this landman. It would be nice if a concensus could be reached by people on a site like this to act in concert rather than having to leave things to the experts.

Kelly Biggs said:

Teryll: I'm a MR owner in Bent County. Check out my comment on the Bent County Oil & Gas link. I checked the Kiowa County Oil & Gas link and found some great information. Looks as though $420+ per acre is in order. KB

I may know some parties who would be interested in acquiring leases and would be willing to be most offers being made in Bent County, depending on the located. Please contact me via email at matt@midtownenergy.com. I'll need to know the legal description of the lands and the number of acres owned. Thanks!

Matt Whitaker

Teryll ~ We have MR in Bent county and have been dealing with a "landman" and a lawyer there in Colorado. We can't agree with you more about having to go through attorney's, etc. They seem to be wanting more money every time we turn around!
Teryll Norton said:

Where is your section in Bent Co? Ours is between state auction sections that went for $410 - $450. Charlie Donlin, landman with Diamond Resource told my sister "that these prices are driven from the "State Auction" process and that Individual Owners cannot create prices in the same way. He said that the interest in this land area started about 8-9 months ago and at first prices were at $25.00 t0 $50.00 per acre." She emailed me that since we are not experts we have to leave the matter to the attorney she hired and this landman. It would be nice if a concensus could be reached by people on a site like this to act in concert rather than having to leave things to the experts.

Kelly Biggs said:

Teryll: I'm a MR owner in Bent County. Check out my comment on the Bent County Oil & Gas link. I checked the Kiowa County Oil & Gas link and found some great information. Looks as though $420+ per acre is in order. KB

Daniel - I've just checked C.O.G.I.S. Pioneer Natural Resources filed applications for well permit and locations assessments on 6/14/2012 for NENW 20 22 S 50 W. That's not very far from our lots in 21 S 51 W. Where are you in relation to that? I was told PNR had pulled out of Bent Co.



Teryll Norton said:

Daniel - I've just checked C.O.G.I.S. Pioneer Natural Resources filed applications for well permit and locations assessments on 6/14/2012 for NENW 20 22 S 50 W. That's not very far from our lots in 21 S 51 W. Where are you in relation to that? I was told PNR had pulled out of Bent Co.

Our family member has mineral rights holdings in Bent County, CO. The Land & Mineral Company-Texas, LLC representative, Tyson Delay has made an offer to lease mineral interests for oil/gas exploration. Richard Hawpe, another agent, has written of his interest on behalf of Land & Mineral Co. No contacts have been signed.

No recent contact has emerged for many weeks. Do you know any details of the status of these offers? Are they a substantial firm? Do you know these representatives?

They seem to not be available via telephone and have not communicate effectively.

My property is at 24S, 51W in Bent Co. I found a 1987 U.S.GeologicalSurvey online that shows oil (not pools) at Penn. and Miss. strata (around 9,000 ft.). Back then they were looking for pools (they didn't have technology for fracking which they do now), so they didn't do any seismic testing. So, although surveys suggest oil, there is no proof yet.

Huge acreage was leased to Vandy Services LLC and 89er Resources LLC, (both shell companies) from 21S, 48W to 24S, 51W on 2/16/12 at CO State Land Comm. auction. Per C.O.G.I.S. on 9/21/12 Auburn Operating LLC began a new well at 24S, 49W. Only drilled to 3,900 ft., name of well is Brown 28-24-49#1. They have not reported production but it has only been a month since the drill.

I spoke with Stephanie Gunter a landman for Land & Mineral Co-TX LLC yesterday. She lives in Denver and was very nice. Her phone # is 720-987-8651. Stephanie wonders why only 3,900 ft. If there is oil it should be much deeper at around 9,000 ft.

I also spoke with Tommy Yowell, an independent landman, who lives in TX. His phone # is 940-872-7000. He bought acreage same time and has already leased his 600 acs at $125/ac + 15% bonus + 1/8 royalty for 4 yrs. No drilling yet but he wanted up front money and got it. His father was a TX landman and he obviously is well connected.

Tommy would not tell me who he sold to but gave me Stephanie's number. Stephanie says Diamond and Pioneer are still in Lamar. Only thing that makes sense is there's two big guys sitting on huge leased acreages waiting to see what comes up at new Brown drill.

Please respond to my "friend" invite and let me know what you learn from your contacts. Thank you.

Hello Tanya:

Your comment has caused me to respond. I have a background in drilling oil wells (did to pay for college and my 1st year of law school). 3900' plus 1,000' is common for oil or gas wells (including the Bent & Kiowa County area) -- check the ESER website http://www.eser.org/5-21s-51w-bent-county-colorado or the more detailed COGCC website http://cogcc.state.co.us/ and check the wells drilled depth for production zones.

Oil is generally not found after 10,000', as the heat and pressure turns the oil into natural gas (at around 10,000' feet the tempature rises 1 degree for every foot drilled, but there are variations in geology). Many of the wells found in Bent & Kiowa county are gas wells at around 4,000' to 5,000'. Expect a 5,000' vertical well to be drilled in 3 to 4 weeks with the button tungsten carbide three-cone drill bits and primarily the mill-tooth tungsten carbide three-cone drill bits (highly effective for shale formations). A horizontal well will increase drilling time by some 30+ percent, as the mud pump driven drilling device cuts slower than a conventional rotary-driven three-cone drill bit and must be monitored constantly.

As for fracking, it has been around since at least the 1950's (at one point they even tried using nuclear radiation as a type of fracking, which damaged the well and formations by melting the formation's cracks). However, the salt water fracking of the 50's is not the the same acid and sand fracking of today (great news that Colorado requires disclosure of fracking substances and amounts). Fracking is nothing to worry about if it is done correctly, including proper cement jobs, and high-grade casing. There should never be a situation where water is contaminated (natural gas, chemicals, etc) if the correct casing and cement jobs were performed properly.

What is more unique for today, is directional (horizontal) drilling. Instead of having to search for a pool (or a field if real lucky) of oil or gas, the drilling company drills vertical to a certain depth then gradually drills at an angle until horizontal and then drills perhaps for a half-mile or more. http://www.northernoil.com/drilling Horizontal drilling opens up the possibility to use shale formations effectively in the production of oil (we Mineral Holders in Bent & Kiowa county have shale formations that are oil bearing -- the Bakken formation in North Dakota is a prime example of a oil bearing shale formation). Indeed, when a pool oil well might last on average 10 years, a horizontal oil well would last 20 years. The horizontal oil wells in the Bakken shale formation are of high grade (well sought after).

I have been offered around $200 per acre for my oil & gas rights. However, it is not the $400+ that the state of Colorado is getting per acre. http://trustlands.state.co.us/Sections/Minerals/Documents/Auction%2... I am interested in your claim to a 15% bonus beyond the leasing acreage amount (typically the bonus for private Mineral Rights holders) -- did Tommy specify how the 15% was calculated. Sounds like the leasing company offered to pay an acreage amount like the state system with a bonus. I think the 1/8 low and 1/6 more in-line with today. 4 years seems to be the figure stuck in Colorado, although I would try for 3 years.

I am not so concerned after reviewing Colorado law on "forced pooling" (in the event I do not sign a lease and my mineral acreage is needed to complete a well). I am more than willing to go through the process to make any oil & gas company provide me my fair share, and I assure any oil & gas company I can cost them far more in dollars had they been reasonable to me in the first instance. I see benefits to forced pooling, in that if the well were a horizontal well, and I as a partner with the oil company under a forced pooling situation, then my final yield in dollars would be much higher than a regular Producers88 lease. I want to lease, I just want a fair price for the bonus and more importantly fair terms for any production. I especially want to encourage drilling.

If you want more info as to who is leasing and what is "left in the pie to lease", I suggest you subscribe to http://www.rigzone.com and http://www.drillinginfo.com -- if you do subscribe then kindly forward info on Kiowa and Bent County to me for analysis. The Bent & Kiowa forum has more than identified which oil company that is behind its leasing companies -- it is true that a landmen working for a leasing company will not reveal his own oil company, but will reveal his or her competitor's oil company (you do the math, there isn't that many oil companies with the kind of money necessary to lease huge sections of land).

I know that Chesapeake has a large interest in Bent & Kiowa counties, especially since it is a natural gas company primarily (I think the 2nd largest independent gas producer in this great nation). I also know that Pioneer has a huge stake in Colorado, including a large field in southern Colorado. I recall that Pioneer recently drilled a vertical well in southern Bent County. The "shell "companies you talk about are actually working for either Chesapeake or Pioneer.

Colorado has an excellent website for tracking permits to drill, watching who actually is drilling, whether a well is in production and its actual production, etc. If I can be of more info help to you and my fellow interested mineral rights holders, then post and I will see if I can answer.

The more I research, the more questions I have. Thank you for the information, Kelly.