Hi all!
Have been laying low for awhile now, but this story is one that I thought noteworthy of posting, especially for the neighborhood groups. What O&G has been saying about the prices of gas is clearly BS as it is conveniently forgotten this is a long term investment. If they don't HBP'd your property, then we can call that a short term. lol Look at it this way: If you lease @ the price of gas right now and gas goes up which we know it will.....are they going to come back to you and pay you the extra?? I think that these Barnett Shalers could look over here in the Haynesville to see more evidence of deceptive trade practice. Remember when all they wanted to deal with was groups and now they don't want to deal with groups. Makes me wonder if these lawsuits are another reason they don't what to deal with groups and not just being able to push an individual mineral owner around. Anyways, this is a 4 page write up but very interesting that this has gone on in the Barnett as well as here with the one common denominator being mineral owners getting screwed.

What are ya'll thoughts on this?
Earlene the barefooted UMO

http://www.fwweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=artic...
Worth the Paper They're Written On
Wednesday, 07 October 2009 10:41 DAN MCGRAW
Page 1 of 4
Both the Booth and Myles cases claim that XTO and the other companies engaged in a civil (not criminal) conspiracy by "conceiv[ing] a plan or scheme in concert with each other [to] drive the bonus and royalty payments to a far lower amount than was being paid at the time."

The object of the scheme, the suits allege, was to circumvent the "natural market forces" that had been sending royalty and bonus rates higher and instead to substitute artificially low bonus and royalty prices, thereby increasing the companies' profits and injuring landowners' interests.

Then there is the aspect of long-term investment. "These [gas] companies have always told the people they were leasing from that the Barnett Shale would be lasting many decades," he said. "So you shouldn't be trying to change the market just because the price has gone down for a short time. That is deceptive trade practice, and we will prove that."