Marcellus Drilling News (a great source for information about oil and gas development in the Marcellus/Utica area) is reporting that Northeast Natural Energy has hired a new rig. Right now, it seems that NNE is working exclusively in Monongalia County, WV, using leases that it bought from Chesapeake and leases that it is buying up itself. NNE is going after Marcellus shale production there, which strikes me as odd because Chesapeake pulled up stakes in Monongalia County back in 2009 because it had drilled a few wells and the production was disappointing. At least, that’s what the scuttlebutt was between the landmen that were working on the project. With gas prices lower than they were then, it doesn’t make much sense for NNE to be drilling where CHK quit. There must be some other factors in play that we aren’t aware of. Nevertheless, best of luck to NNE. We’re always glad to see that somebody is drilling and taking leases in West Virginia.
Our family negotiated leases to landman from perceron for nne, and the changes were put in an addendum. The landman came (without bringing his notary stamp), and marked through two of the changes and initialed, but didn’t mark through the royalty paragraph with the biggest change (gross royalty without productuon deductions) it was in the addendum under in the event of conflict… and I signed assuming he had his notary stamp, then was told otherwise! I said that’s not legal is it? “We do it all the time, it will be fine”, was his response, and left my check, said I’d be receiving signed documents from nne within two weeks. (The addendum page had a signature line for the president of nne). That was over a month ago! When I inquired again he emailed me a copy with his notarization, stating again I’d get final docs within two weeks… still nothing! He said they were planning to drill in August, and it’s aug 26th! Should I be worried? I also asked if we were owed any money as consol owned parts of our parcel, and the surface owner had leased the previous 5 years and all equiptment had already been put in place. They contacted us when her 5 years was nearing end. How do I find out if our minerals were already taken? As the previous co wasn’t nne? This is in clay district and is a small parcel, but is right in middle of all the others. Please help!
Yeah, they’re supposed to notarize it when you sign. Notarization is intended to ensure that the person signing the document is actually the person who’s supposed to be signing. As far as whether the drilling is actually happening, that’s impossible for me to say for sure. You might try getting on GoMarcellusShale.com and MineralRightsForum.com and see if anybody knows whether they are drilling there. What exactly do you mean by “if our minerals were already taken”?
Back in 2008 CNX offered ‘squat’ for my 10 acre portion of a 127 acre parcel. The lease was labeled ‘oil + gas, coal bed methane’. The Marcellus shale was not mentioned. Online I could see that 20 miles away in PA they were drilling in the Marcellus shale, there were also maps of the Marcellus shale that included Monongalia County. It didn’t make sense that they were interested in our property, but not interested in the Marcellus shale. So, I didn’t sign. Are they allowed to drill into the Marcellus shale without writing it into the lease? Also, I am learning as much as I can from online sources, but realize I need professional help. I hope to be talking to you next week about other Mon. County leases. Thank you for your very informative website.
A standard oil and gas lease includes all formations from the surface to the center of the earth, and all oil and gas and their by-products and constituents. They’re even typically written to include coal bed methane even though coal bed methane ownership is on a case-by-case basis in West Virginia; you may own it by virtue of owning the oil and gas, or you may not.