TexasFile updated their Houston County information yesterday, providing access to all documents filed during July. Drake Exploration recorded 424 lease memos, adding acreage in 45 new surveys located northeast of Grapeland, running up to the Anderson County line:
Here is a map showing all their Houston County leasing:
I won’t know the acreage added by the 424 new leases until the documents are available in Enverus, which could take weeks.
What’s everyone getting from Drake on their acreage in Houston County, TX. I’ve talked to multiple landowners and the terms were not impressive. $300 per NMA, 1/6 RI and 3/2 PT.
Don’t think I’d sign for that….
No reason to accept initial offers…they are essentially an offer to negotiate. A leasing company obviously wants to acquire acreage at the lowest possible cost, but they also want to complete the leasing in their target area, so offers will typically come up from the first offer, even if they tell you no the first time.
I don’t have any specific info from Houston County, but in Anderson County lease bonuses have hit $1,000 or higher with a 25% cost free royalty.
Are these dots just showing a Survey that has a lease filed in?
Correct. The dots indicate that a survey has one or more leases in it.
I suspect that Drake and it’s landmen are getting an override on most of the leases that they get. Also Expand/Chesapeake Exploration, LLC is paying them a big difference between what they are paying the mineral owners! This STINKS!
In these big plays, an oil company does not have the internal manpower to do all the title tracing and leasing. A landman is independent and has to be compensated for his time and work, generally by cash but sometimes by an override. He offers the terms that the lessor instructs and has limited authority to improve that. A mineral owner can accept or reject the terms. Keeping in mind that many mineral owners have a very tiny interest, perhaps less than an acre. So if they have no real power to negotiate and the oil company may opt to drill and carry that interest until payout. No oil company is going to pay so much to every mineral owner that it ends up in a loss position when drilling, especially in times when oil prices are less. In the end, it is economics that determines which projects are pursued.
I appreciate you reply. I’ve had counter offers that I’ve made to the lease brokers landmen many year’s ago that I’m pretty sure never was sent to the company doing the leasing. One time back in the 1980’s I was told that my offer was rejected. I traced down the In House Company landman and he accepted the terms. It was Anadarko.
I have 2 leases with Drake and can’t seem to be able to be able to reach anyone at the listed number (my guy isn’t there anymore). Does anyone have a working number for them? It is a bit concerning that the number on their website isn’t a working number. Any help is appreciated.
You need to take precautions when leasing to these temporary leasing entities, which often use a name similar to other companies. They are NOT drilling companies and act for an unnamed oil company and frequently disappear once that project is finished. And later re-register under a new company name. Drake Exploration II LLC was registered in Texas on April 11, 2024 with an address of a PO Box in Mt. Vernon TX and a registered agent called Northwest Registered Agent LLC. That company is registered at 5900 Balcones Drive, Suite 100, Austin 78731. So you may not be able to find them later. Looks like the filings are all memorandums and not the lease. Be sure to sign two original leases, or at least keep your executed copy. Even better, insist that the lessee sign and notarize the lease before giving him the memorandum. Also, use the FULL name of a company when discussing. Drake Exploration II LLC (Mt Vernon) and Drake Exploration LLC with an address in Longview TX have both filed leases in Anderson County. There is a Drake Exploration Inc in Tulsa OK. No idea if these are related. Maybe post the name of the contract landman you are searching for.
A New Location by Drake (Chesapeake Exploration, LLC) is being built just north of Latexo, Texas in Houston County in the W.M. Marsh A-743. The rumor is that is going to only be another TEST Well like the Yancy Well northwest of Grapeland. There is a lot of unleased acreage in the area. Horrible ground work by Drake! 8-27-25
Cypress Energy has leased about 4,500 acres in the Latexo area, including acreage in the Marsh survey. I wonder if they are leasing for Chesapeake?
It’s worth noting, however, that Chesapeake drilled the Yancey test well before any of leases involved were recorded.
Drake is the lease broker for this well according to owners that are currently be approached. That’s for certain. There are multiple brokers that have been operating in the are for over a year with their low ball offers if that makes any sense.
This appears to be the access road for the rumored Chesapeake test well located between Grapeland and Latexo. It is located on the west side of Highway 287, just south of County Road 1825. The pad is hidden behind a grove of trees, just like the Yancey test well. The road is nicely paved with a combination of rock and cement, producing a fairly smooth surface.
This is a Goodland Lime area.
I’m aware of Goodland wells in Anderson, Smith, and Cherokee Counties, but I’m not aware of any in Houston County.
Could very well be wrong - there were some rosessa prospects drilled in this county recently as well. It’s a multi stacked basin that looks like it’s finally being exploited!
Also could be a chicken farm given the size of the pad from drone.
I am in contact with quite a number of pro mineral owners that own in the area. We are all waiting on the offers to escalate. The more mineral acres refusing to take the Drake offers the more likely they will begin to negotiate in good faith. This play is obviously in its infancy.
I own in the Eden Survey as well.
