Gas Rush in Charlevoix County
By: Chris Faulknor, Editor
Charlevoix County has become a hotspot for natural gas and oil speculators since word came out of Missaukee County of fruitful test drilling.
Encana, a monolithic Canadian energy company purchased some 250,000 acres of land in Michigan with hopes of striking gas pockets in an underground formation of Utica Shale.
“It’s been crazy around here,” said Charlevoix County Registrar of Deeds Charlene Novotny. “I’ve had so many people in from the oil and gas companies I had to set up a table outside in the hall.”
The researchers, known in the industry as “land men” are spending their days searching through land documents dating back to the 1800s.
Results of the State of Michigan’s recent oil and gas lease auction show just how serious the rush is to nab leases since the state made $178 million – compare to its previous record of $23.6 million set in the early 1980s.
“The future of oil and gas exploration in Michigan looks very bright,” said DNRE Director Rebecca Humphries. “The wise use and management of our natural resources, such as oil and natural gas, will help lead Michigan’s economic recovery, create jobs and provide diversity for our state’s economy. The spin-off impact of the proposed exploration of the formation could provide a significant economic lift to many communities.”
While it may seem to be a recent discovery, Encana had the foresight to buy its Michigan drilling rights years ago.
The Encana Corporation made it public last week that they had acquired the massive amount of drilling rights with little or no notice by using their shell corporation Petoskey Exploration L.L.C.
For more on this headline story, check the May 19th edition of The Boyne City Gazette.
Landowners can be confronted with a blizzard of confusing issues when the landmen call. Shut in, royalty, pipeline right of way, tax implications…. it’s endless. There is an all volunteer free website made of landowners to share info and questions with one another. You have to request a login, which is free, and then you can post questions and read more than you ever wanted to know about how to be smart when leasing. http://www.pagaslease.com They have a page dedicated specifically to Michigan, but you will learn a great deal from people just like you who are sharing their experience from other states. No one should sign a lease without visiting that site at least once first. And it’s free, all volunteer. (It is funded by advertisements on the margins of the page)
Thank you for the information you added. If you would like to contribute to the follow up story for next week, give me a call at 231-645-1970, I would be happy to speak with you.
Chris Faulknor, Editor
I would also like to share with your readers my background in oil & gas leasing. After I received my Petroleum Technology degree from Northwestern Michigan College, and a Bachelors Degree from Ferris, I went to work in the oil & gas leasing business. After a couple years, I was asked by some landowners to help advise and consult with them on the terms of their lease with the oil & gas companies. Using a lawyer is always wise, but most of the lawyers that were hired by the landowners I worked with did not really know what were the most important clauses, nor what was “possible” to get the energy companies to accept…both before and after leasing.
If you would like some industry expertise…we have a new technology that converts gas to liquids where people can use the fuel to run their auto from their production…please contact me for more information. My website is http://www.gastechno.com
This is clearly a hot issue right now. Our firm has had several calls and walk-ins over the past month from folks who have been visited by those seeking to purchase a gas and oil leases.