Fort Worth cashing in on gas find

Washington Times ^ | 08/13/05 | Hugh Aynesworth

[conservative in nyc]

Thanks to a massive discovery of natural gas beneath this city -- and relatively new technology that has made extraction economically feasible -- hundreds already are cashing royalty checks and scanning production figures, anticipating more.

Eventually, thousands are likely to cash in on the opportunity created by the Barnett shale field.

Fort Worth has made municipal acreage available for drilling, while enacting policies to make sure the environmental quality in the country's fifth fastest-growing city is maintained.

Since last October, the city has leased out five tracts -- under parks, airports and other city-owned property -- and has received $2.7 million in lease bonuses, while retaining 25 percent of royalties.

Already there are several rigs continuously working the properties -- often several hundred yards away, probing horizontally into the target area.

Doug Rademaker, director of Fort Worth's engineering department, said last week that he expected substantial returns to the city.

While several large city-owned properties are being readied for extraction of the valuable gas, some drilling firms are moving into residential areas -- going door to door to sign up homeowners to allow them to drill under their property.

"We call it 'mailbox money,'?" said Mr. Rademaker. "Folks just sit back and get their checks."

Several hundred have already signed such leasing agreements, but many more are waiting.

"I wasn't around to remember the California gold rush, of course," said Carrie Watkins, 66, "but this seems just about as important, seeing as how we need to cut our dependence on foreign oil and gas. It's getting to be like a feeding frenzy out here."

[conservative in nyc]

We haven't begun to tap our huge reserves of natural gas. There's plenty of natural gas in Alaska, but no pipeline to get it down to the Lower 48. The Texas drilling should be a good start.

[phoenix0468]

Hey I live in Oklahoma, that's pretty close to Texas and we have loads of natural gas here. I wonder when they're going to knock on my door, LOL. By the way, most of the gas produced in Oklahoma is coming out of the Dome lately.

[TexasTransplant]

I seem to remember last year the big find was in Utah, then I didn't see anything else about it.

[KAUAIBOUND]

Not only is there natural gas in Texas, there is the possibility of a Saudi Arabia-size field in Nevada and Western Utah. Within the past 2 years, a 1 billion barrel reserve has been found in the western limits of this field. Supposedly, the geology of this area resembles that of several other major oil-producing regions, but was somehow overlooked previously.

http://finance.lycos.com/qc/news/story.aspx?symbols=BB:EDNE&story=200506211330_IWR_089164

The major oil companies, along with some minor companies have been buying or leasing land in this area for further exploratory drilling. It would be richly (no pun intended) ironic if such a field were found in the heartland, but I have seen too many of these overly optimistic self-serving "reports" to put much credence in them, but you never know...

[KAUAIBOUND]

For the record, I am talking about oil, not natural gas, but they are often found together.

[phoenix0468]

Actually there is an extremely large deposit of oil in Utah and Nevada. Unfortunately it is in a type of rock or shale that is extremely difficult and expensive to extract from. Maybe some day we can tap it.

[defenderSD]

Thanks for the link. That's an interesting article and the website looks good too.

[hosepipe]

[ We haven't begun to tap our huge reserves of natural gas. There's plenty of natural gas in Alaska, but no pipeline to get it down to the Lower 48. The Texas drilling should be a good start. ]

In Alaska not only a thousand years worth of methane but theres oil all over the place.. Its on federal land.. and cant be tapped.. since most of Alaska is federal land.. theres oil that cant even be probed to find the extent of it.. ALL held up by democrats.. The largest gold and copper deposit ever found anywhere(Pebble mine), too... all held up by so called conservation groups.. If "its" good for the country(whatever) .. democrats are against it..

[q_an_a]

I had a client, who was in the oil and gas business in the 80s and got out @ $10 a barrel and 3 bucks for NG. Last year he said, "I'm closing my business, because all my old property is now worth plenty and I can get back into chasing more leases." Everything old is new again.

[Sally'sConcerns]

I live in SW Oklahoma in a small town of about 4500 and they're drilling in the town. Chesapeake has paid thousands to people affected by the noise of the drilling and the views.

Town meetings are being held regularly because they want to drill on one of the only open lots (about 3 subdivision lots in size) in town and most of the neighbours don't want the noise, traffic or having to look at the drilling rig. My mother-in-law lives directly across from the field where they'd be drilling and she goes back and forth about how she feels about it. Up until a couple of weeks ago she'd throw away unopened anything from any of the land people or energy companies.

[No Blue States]

There are wells going up all over the place here in Fort Worth.

They wouldnt be such an eye sore if one were mine. ;)