Oxford landowners group preparing bid packages for gas rights
OXFORD – A group of 350 landowners representing approximately 24,000 acres in the Oxford area will soon be putting out to bid lease offers to a host of interested natural gas companies.
While details of the bid package were not disclosed, the group’s consultant said the project is “very close to shutting down.”
Most of the land in the group is located in southwestern Chenango County, with some as far north as East Pharsalia. The Oxford Land Group, as it’s called, started with roughly 600 acres on May 5 and closed membership on July 22 with 24,000 acres.
“We hope to be bringing everyone to the table soon, and we expect the bids to be competitive,” said consultant Jackie Root.
Gas companies have been eyeing Chenango County and elsewhere in the Appalachian Basin to tap into the large quantities of natural gas buried underground. While the Marcellus Shale bed has been characterized as “the motherlode” of subsurface layers, others, such as the Herkimer and Oneida strata, also have substantial quantities. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has permitted 65 wells in Chenango County, with 10 planning to drill into the Marcellus as soon as DEC regulations are rewritten per Governor Paterson’s request earlier this month. Gas wells have most recently been drilled in Preston, Smithville and Coventry.
Longtime Oxford businessman and the Oxford Land Group’s founder Bryant LaTourette said the Marcellus Shale under most of southwestern New York represents a “white hot play” in the region.
“We sit on the thickest part of the Marcellus. We are also right in the area of the transmission lines that will be going over to the Millennium pipeline. It’s a very good position,” LaTourette said.
“We began with neighbors talking to each other. We heard about the Deposit group which received more than $2,400 an acre in their lease. At that time, we were only getting from $50 to $100 an acre here,” he said. “I found Root’s name in the newspaper announcement of the deal and called her to see if she could help us out.”
Root said the Oxford Land Group’s leasing terms would be competitive with other groups in the Southern Tier that have successfully signed on with a gas company.
“Whether things have leveled off or they continue to escalate, I don’t know,” she said.
LaTourette said he expected land prices to continue to escalate over time.
The terms of a lease could be more important than the money, however. Root said when the offers come back, if one is in the ballpark for the dollar amount anticipated, the lease and any addendums will be negotiated “until all of the landowners are in agreement with it.”
While details of the bid package were not disclosed, the group’s consultant said the project is “very close to shutting down.”
Most of the land in the group is located in southwestern Chenango County, with some as far north as East Pharsalia. The Oxford Land Group, as it’s called, started with roughly 600 acres on May 5 and closed membership on July 22 with 24,000 acres.
“We hope to be bringing everyone to the table soon, and we expect the bids to be competitive,” said consultant Jackie Root.
Gas companies have been eyeing Chenango County and elsewhere in the Appalachian Basin to tap into the large quantities of natural gas buried underground. While the Marcellus Shale bed has been characterized as “the motherlode” of subsurface layers, others, such as the Herkimer and Oneida strata, also have substantial quantities. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has permitted 65 wells in Chenango County, with 10 planning to drill into the Marcellus as soon as DEC regulations are rewritten per Governor Paterson’s request earlier this month. Gas wells have most recently been drilled in Preston, Smithville and Coventry.
Longtime Oxford businessman and the Oxford Land Group’s founder Bryant LaTourette said the Marcellus Shale under most of southwestern New York represents a “white hot play” in the region.
“We sit on the thickest part of the Marcellus. We are also right in the area of the transmission lines that will be going over to the Millennium pipeline. It’s a very good position,” LaTourette said.
“We began with neighbors talking to each other. We heard about the Deposit group which received more than $2,400 an acre in their lease. At that time, we were only getting from $50 to $100 an acre here,” he said. “I found Root’s name in the newspaper announcement of the deal and called her to see if she could help us out.”
Root said the Oxford Land Group’s leasing terms would be competitive with other groups in the Southern Tier that have successfully signed on with a gas company.
“Whether things have leveled off or they continue to escalate, I don’t know,” she said.
LaTourette said he expected land prices to continue to escalate over time.
The terms of a lease could be more important than the money, however. Root said when the offers come back, if one is in the ballpark for the dollar amount anticipated, the lease and any addendums will be negotiated “until all of the landowners are in agreement with it.”
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