I am new to this forum and very inexperienced in mineral leasing. I have 53 acres in the Jefferson district. Would anyone be willing to share some information on solid companies and ones to avoid? I contacted Antero and they indicated that they were not in Pleasants County yet. Any advice or information on how to get started would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Mark
Mark Reed - sorry to be so late responding, but maybe late is better than never here. I know there is some leasing going on in Pleasants County, but not a lot. You should wait until they approach you, if you can. It puts you in a better negotiating position. With 53 acres, you'll be a very interesting prospect for the oil and gas companies. Pleasants County is in the wet gas zone, so your minerals should be very valuable. If they offer you $500/acre, or even $1,000/acre, you should just politely tell them you know the minerals are worth a lot more than that. Ritchie County right now is getting negotiated leases around $2,500/acre, and Tyler County is getting negotiated leases around $3,000/acre. Keep asking questions. There's a lot of good advice on this forum. When you do get a lease in hand, start a new discussion here (see the link just above here) and people will chime in with all kinds of advice.
Hello Pleasants County group. I have property and mineral rights in Ritchie County that borders Pleasants and have been a member of Ritchie county group for approx. 1 year. Thought I'd join your group also to learn all I can concerning oil and gas leasing.
Havenāt seen any activity on here and just wondering is it because everyone is too busy or thereās just not much going on? I live in Wood County and my mom has ( I believe) mineral interests in Pleasants County. I have been to the courthouse a few times doing research on my ancestors and this property that my mom supposively inherited. Not sure if the surface is still there tho. After I basically do the landmanās job and find out proof positive my mom has interests I will need to deal with a lease offer she received along with her two brothers. Just wondering what the going rate is for acres and royalties. Are offers being made? I know the courthouse has at least 20-25 landman there on any given day so is this area just starting up? Here in Wood county they have built 3-4 new hotels in prospect of the influx of workers. Any news at all would be helpful.
The companies think that the "good" Marcellus is only in the eastern portion of Pleasants and probably the northern (think close to Tyler). The western half will probably have to wait on Utica interest. We have a well in Tyler almost on the Pleasants line. It is supposedly a really good well, but I haven't seen production numbers. EQT and Antero are VERY SLOWLY moving in our direction. I have had some initial interest from them, but with the downturn, they are not in a hurry.
Thanks Jim. I also have a tract on the Tyler/Pleasants line in Union. Iāve been approached by a landman but ai believe they are with a small company. Jay Bee. Ever heard of them?
The landman company is BB Land out of Bridgeport. And she told me they were subsidiary of Jay Bee Oil and Gas.
I have heard of Jay Bee. they are pretty active in Tyler, at least they were a couple of years ago. Go to the link below and select Tyler (or Ritchie) and put Jay-Bee Oil in operator. Then you have to go find it in the drop down list (several versions of it, the last two with NJ addresses seem to work)
Anybody know of any online links for Pleasants County, either for deeds and leases (and other documents) or Taxes?
From looking at the individual wells in the area, Jay Bee seems to be about the third most active drillers. But there is a big gap between second and third. Haven't heard much about them lately.
Nancy, I don't think Pleasants is online in a way right now. At least I haven't heard anything about it.
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Jay Bee is a pretty active, but smaller, company. If they're asking you for a lease, they're probably going to drill. Either that or sell to Antero. They and Antero seem to be interested in a lot of the same property. I've gotten them into bidding wars, and other people have done the same. Call Antero's Bridgeport office and see if they're interested in your property.
I wouldn't bother calling EQT. Nobody seems to like working with them, and getting gross proceeds from them is like eating spaghetti with a spoon.
Kyle, , I have found that there are MANY more heirs on our five acre interests and I do believe we own the surface too. It seems the landman has sent quote " approx 150 leases out" . My uncle has already signed the lease and sent it back. My other uncle and I (guardian for my mom) are holding out right now cause it appears they are low balling us and I want to negotiate the terms. I think I read somewhere that my uncle who signed is locked into the lease he signed. What if my other uncle and I want to approach Antero instead of going thru BB Land/ Jay Bee? Can we do that Ben if the other heirs have signed?
You can definitely sign an agreement with another company, and it's worth approaching them. JayBee is very much in competition with Antero. They pick up a lot of properties right next to each other. They sell back and forth all the time. They also get into bidding wars over the same properties.
Your interest in the mineral rights is entirely separate from your family members' interest in the mineral rights. It's as if you have stock in the same company, your certificates are separate from theirs. You can sell yours, they can keep theirs, and you won't affect each others' interests. Last person to sign a lease may have a bit more negotiating leverage than the first, though. Just make sure you don't make the landman too mad, or you may end up with a partition suit instead of a lease.
Thanks for the info Kyle! I havenāt spent much time thinking about this lease thing. I contacted a couple of heirs about a month ago. One even said he spoke with you. I believe he decided his interest wasnāt enough to spend any more time on it. His last email to me said he was signing his share over to his brother. The other three said nobody in their family branches have signed either. I figured with the way things are going I would wait just a bit. I havenāt heard anything from the landman since she sent my moms papers to me. My uncle did ask her for a list of all the heirs but I donāt believe she has sent that to him. I havenāt seen where anyone is signing or getting any offers in the Bens Run area. Iām not privy to a lot of that stuff. What I do know is I drive the area a lot and thereās all kinds of truck activity action and thereās talk of a Kracker plant going in my county or Belmont which is the next county over. I believe when I get ready to get serious and sign I will contact you for help in negotiating the counter offer. I think the landman did threaten the one heir with a partition suit and thatās why heās giving his share to his brother. The heirs are kinda split in this family due to how interests is divided. It seems my mom and her two brothers are getting a bigger share of interest. Not sure how that is except they are the only living heirs on my great grandfathers branch.
The heirships can definitely get complicated.
If you do hire me to work on your lease, make sure to get everybody in the family together on it. The larger a mineral interest you represent, the more negotiating leverage you have.
I sure hope the end up building that cracker plant. We have more than enough gas to supply that thing, and it would be real good to have a local facility that needs all that gas.
Well the three heirs I spoke with are willing to wait a bit longer and are in agreement that the offer is too low and wants to negotiate BUT whether they are willing to put out some mula to help with your fee is a question I havenāt asked yet. Iām going out of town for about 3 weeks and even though I will have access to Internet and such it will be sketchy in the area Iāll be in. So Iām just gonna step back from this for a while. BTW the plant is a definite go for either Belmont or Wood county. Wood county is definitely preparing for it. We have built three hotels in the last year and an apt complex plus a few RV parks. They are gearing up for influx of workers for sure. Even if itā goes to Belmont we will get the workers for housing.
I know that the state government is still optimistic that the plant will be built. It's good to know that local government is also optimistic. State officials can sometimes be trying to spin things in an effort to make it happen, even when they know it's not likely to happen.
DanielCharlesDineen, you can go here and put in 095-00262 and zoom in. That is the Bens Run area. I don't see anything like a horizontal well around there. There are a few directly west, and some to the south. I heard somebody say it would be about 10 years before things get really hot in Pleasants. That could be wrong.
Thanks Nancy!