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Drilling deal expected in mere days
By Karl Henkel
WARREN
Negotiations between the Associated Landowners of the Ohio Valley and an oil and gas driller could be completed “in a matter of days.”
Bob Rea, president of ALOV, a nonprofit landowner advocacy group, told a few hundred landowners Friday night at Champion High School that negotiations are moving quickly.
ALOV is trying to lease about 80,000 acres in Trumbull County — the largest single-county acreage plot in Ohio.
That number could grow depending on how many landowners join ALOV by today, the deadline set by ALOV for this round of negotiations.
Rea said though negotiations are rapidly progressing, this round of landowner signings may have to wait longer than other groups to receive bonus money.
That’s because all 80,000 acres — coming from more than 1,100 landowners — will have to be vetted by landmen in the Trumbull County recorder’s office to ensure all landowners are legally allowed to lease their land.
Landmen negotiate deals and trades with other companies and individuals, draft contracts (and administer their compliance), acquire leases and ensure compliance with governmental regulations.
If land is already leased, a new driller cannot lease that land. The driller could, however, buy that lease off the current leaseholder.
The recorder’s office can accommodate about 25 landmen.
Rea said he hopes to contact county commissioners to come up with an alternative way to harbor more landmen, though he said he wasn’t sure how that could be accomplished.
Landowners who are a part of ALOV are grouped to determine time lines for payment. The first group, for example, should receive bonus payments within 90 days; the second within 145 days, and so on.
It is expected that bonus payments could be $2,500 per acre based on similar area leases, though Rea declined to comment on negotiations.
Some landowners planned to sign up with ALOV on Friday night.
Connie Sisco of Vienna Township has 12 acres of leasable land and said the possible monetary gain excites her.
“That’s what everybody keeps talking about,” she said.
But some learned that they won’t be able to lease their property.
Henry Brown of Hartford had intended to lease his 5-acre property but discovered that isn’t possible because he has a producing Clinton Sandstone well on his lot.
“There’s a lot to this,” he said after the meeting.
Brown doesn’t receive any monetary compensation for the well; he receives free natural gas from Atlas Energy, the producer.
Chevron Corp. in 2010 acquired the deep rights for all Atlas leases.
Brown is one of many whose land is “held by production,” where a lease remains intact as long as the well is producing.
ALOV will not disclose the bargaining driller because of competitive reasons.
The group has helped thousands of landowners lease more than 100,000 acres in Eastern Ohio.