Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jim on August 19, 2008 at 10:38

You might check the Orchard Blog by Mom of 3 Aug 14. She states that the next meeting will be Sept 4, at the South Bossier Baptist Church. They put together a database of those that signed up at the last meeting.

Permalink Reply by SoBoRes on August 19, 2008 at 11:30

orchard,

We took in the information from the meeting and put it into a database, right now we are trying to fill in the holes for all of the missing information. Many folks stated their interest in pooling together but were unable to provide the data required for us to go a lot further and make immediate contact with everyone. The database I created, had 90+ minerals owners who would like to pool acreage together, but property dimensions or total acreage is not known as of yet. We are planning another meeting on the 4th as mentioned by Jim. There are a few of us meeting this Friday to discuss the agenda for the 4th and will get something out as soon as we can. I'm sorry you feel like we haven't been as forthcoming with new information, we are trying to address this and are always willing to accept help from others.

landownerPermalink Reply by orchard on August 19, 2008 at 12:19

I am curious as to why one particular ex-landman has been chosen instead of considering all options, listening to more than one person, taking a vote and maybe negotiating a lower or flat fee as opposed to percentages? It's collective land and should be collective choice-vote. If you have 90 acres and every acre gets $25,000 that comes to $2,250,000. At 3% he makes $67,500. That's a heck of a pay day. Seems like we could offer a flat fee to someone maybe $300 per acre (at 90 acres $27,000). It's still plenty of money to be worth the relatively small amount of effort this will take to complete. Or we might do it on a sliding scale. We offer a flat fee for anything under $25,000 per acre and anything over $25,000 per acre is 3%. This establishes strong incentive to get us maximum dollar. Get us over $25,000 and it triples your reward.

I am personally more comfortable with an attorney well-known in this area with 5000 acres already signed under his name who has vast experience and legal education/experience. An attorney could also determine who owns the minerals probably faster.

Food for thought and thanks for your efforts to make this happen.

Permalink Reply by SoBoRes on August 19, 2008 at 14:19

First, we have not accepted Mr. Jarrett's offer nor would we without a vote. I personally believe that we should not have to utilize anyone other than an attorney to review leases for the group. Mr. Jarrett was asked to attend based on his knowledge in the O&G business, not as the only option. Unfortunately, given the lack of a posted agenda during our last meeting many folks got stirred up after his short Q&A and many others departed. This made it very difficult to get everyone refocused so we could present other options. This of course will be addressed as part of our meeting Friday and we will try to fix this for the meeting on the 4th.

The main reason why this group started is because of the number of people in the Orchard that had already signed leases and we were trying to find out who was left. The original plan was to focus on our section alone but as it turned out there were a lot of folks out in our area looking for help or wanting to be part of a larger group. I am in no way an expert at any of this, but like I said we had to start somewhere and I have to thank Mom of 3 for putting the signs up and making the commitment few others would take on. One thing we all need to keep in mind is there are some mineral owners within this group that may need to lease prior to others and we all need to do what is best for our families. Thank you very much for presenting your thoughts, they are extremely valid and will have to be taken into consideration.

landownerPermalink Reply by orchard on August 19, 2008 at 14:36

Glad to hear that. I thought he was a foregone conclusion. My thought was this guy charges us a fee then we probably hire an attorney on top of that to review just to make sure it's all correct. I would be glad to assist in some capacity in this and get Walter Johnson to come and meet with the group.

If you want me to see if he is available on the 4th I will do so. He does a power point, takes time, and will have articulate answers. I am a business owner and sometimes that gives you a different perspective on contracts, negotiating, etc. You may be a business owner as well and know what I mean.

The advantage to an attorney is they must keep their reputation in tact, you can report them to the Bar Association for misconduct, and that gives them the incentive to do it right and be on the up and up where a landman may or may not have that concern and could be taking an additional kickback from O&G companies without your knowledge. The attorney is bound to represent our interests.

I was impressed by the fact that he met with me for an extended period of time and did not rush me out the door. He gave me a lot of free advice where most would charge by the hour.

At the meeting on the 4th, you might require that people fill out contact info prior to entering. This will eliminate people leaving early or talking afterwards and not giving you the needed info.

Thanks again for the work.