Can anyone give me guidance on what the top lease bonus is these days in Washington County? My acreage is in western Washington County, A-166. Any help is appreciated. The broker started at $1,000.00 PNMA. jd
You are in a great spot! This is some of the best rock in the country. I would take it over 80% of the Permian. It is still hush, hush and of course the operators do not want you to know how good it is but do not sell yourself short. $1,000 is too low. Your leverage depends on a lot of factors most important of which being the amount of acerage. PM if you would like more information.
James I agree with Ryan.
Some very nice Austin Chalk gas wells(with condensate) in that area.
Clint Liles
The following linked website (written in May of 2018) is essentially a paper on what’s going on in the Austin Chalk in Washington, Fayette and surrounding Texas counties. It includes maps with initial potential (IP) well results and the prospectivity of areas. It should tell you what you need to know about how good your area is. Hint - it’s good! Austin Chalk Revival
If you top lease, and your original lease expires because for example the original company you leased to has too much acreage under lease and can’t drill a well on it before it expires, you’ll miss out on the opportunity to see just how much your lease is worth to the companies working the area. Yes, if you top lease you get some bonus cash that you won’t otherwise get if the original company you leased to gets it drilled before expiration, and yes you might have a chance to negotiate better royalty or other terms in the top lease than your current lease. But in a good area, if your land becomes available to lease, the bonus $ / acre to lease can go sky high. In the height of leasing in the Eagle Ford, Bakken, Marcellus etc, the bonuses went up to $5000/ac and above. And in the Permian they have gone WAY above that. That’s the kind of opportunity you could miss out on, so you need to take that into account as you make your decision.
PM me if you’d like to discuss this further. Good luck!