Many landowners ask us.......IS A GROUP RIGHT FOR ME?***
The short answer a majority of the time is, "yes!". Unless you own a few thousand acres of contiguous land by yourself, or you need that bonus money right now or else you will lose your house or farm, a group is probably right for you. If you have neighbors contiguous to your property or in your township who have not leased yet and who are like minded, a group can be right for you. If you like negotiation instead of taking what is offered, a group can be right for you. If you have a little patience and want to try to get the best lease possible, a group is usually right for you. Everyone's situation is different, but we've found that in most cases, working together with professional help works best for landowners.
One of our big goals as attorneys representing landowners in regard to oil and gas lease and contract negotiations is to put our clients in the best possible position to maximize their opportunity to gain financially from their natural resources, and to make sure that drilling has as little impact as possible on their land. What we've found in this booming new business of Marcellus and Utica Shale oil and gas contract negotiation is that the gas companies often hold most, if not all, of the cards. We have the knowledge and experience to understand and advise our clients on what should be in a good, landowner-friendly oil and gas agreement, but often times our clients just don't have the bargaining power by themselves to get terms that are going to be financially and legally beneficial to them and that are going to adequately protect their land and water.
Under most circumstances, landowners can gain more power and negotiating leverage by working together with their neighbors as a "landowner group". This is not our invention - other groups have been successful in the past with negotiating very landowner friendly contracts in other states and in Eastern Pennsylvania. We, ourselves, have been successful in the past leasing our clients in "groups" - small groups of about 1,000 acres at a time, and over the past 18 months with much larger landowner groups exceeding 10,000 acres. While this is a very new and extermely rare area of representation, Morascyzk and Polochak has answered the call of our clients and has begun to represent larger groups of landowners in various counties in Western Pennsylvania, and has assisted attorneys in Ohio with their large groups of landowners. Overall, Morascyzk and Polochak is currently working with over 100,000 acres of land in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
We've found in a very short matter of time that many landowners are willing to work with us and with one another to form groups with the goal of the groups to be to secure the best possible terms in the landowners' oil and gas lease. These "best terms" encompass many different areas which include top bonus-money and royalty payment, better land use compensation and protections, and legal liability protections for landowners.
By joining a group, landowners simply make the commitment to work with one another, and the group leaders and the attorneys heading negotiations. They pledge to stay united while seeing the leasing process through to the end. A successful group negotiation takes patience - it could take several months or more than a year to get a deal done right. It takes fortitude and faith - the gas markets rise and fall, and so do leasing pushes and budgets of the gas companies. It also takes people with similar goals, but we find that most group members are by nature willing to be patient and want to do things the right way. Yes, the money is important to them, but even more so may be how their property is used and impacted by oil and gas drilling. No oil and gas agreement is ever perfect, but our philosophy is that a better agreement can be had by landowners by working together with their neighbors.
If you think a group may be right for you, please read the brief descriptions of our current landowner groups listed below. Each group has its own webpage on our site, some of which are password protected for confidentiality purposes. If you would like to join a group or are interested in starting your own landowner group, please call us at (724) 225-1110.
***Information posted on this website is informational only and does not constitute and is not intented to be legal advice. Personally consult an attorney for legal advice. Morascyzk and Polochak cannot predict the prices of oil and gas lease bonus payments or royalty rates in any geographic location. The issue of what price reflects true "fair market value" at any point in time is for Lessors and Lessees to determine through negotiation.
CURRENT GROUPS REPRESENTED OR ASSISTED BY MORASCYZK AND POLOCHAK - CALL (724) 225-1110 for more information regarding the groups or joining the groups.
NAME: Mt. Jackson/Ohioville Landowners Group GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Lawrence County, Beaver County, Western Butler County, PA
APPROXIMATE SIZE: (as of 8/1/2011) About 1,000+ landowners and 40,000 + acres
TYPE OF PROPERTY: Primarily properties that are not under lease or with leases expiring within the next 1-2 years.
ORIGINALLY FORMED: June 2010
STATUS: Agreements reached for 35,000 acres, who are in the process of signing leases. For remaining 5,000 acres, we are accepting bids via Co-eXprise, Inc. CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS. ENROLLMENT OPEN?: Enrollment closed, add-ons being accepted on a case-by-case basis. CALL (724) 225-1110 FOR INFORMATION, or CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS.
NAME: Ohio Valley Landowners Group (via Fisher, Brown, Peterson & Noble and Jeff Rokisky & Associates) GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Multiple Counties, Eastern Ohio
APPROXIMATE SIZE: (as of 7/1/2011) 40,000 + acres TYPE OF PROPERTY: Primarily properties that are not under lease.
ORIGINALLY FORMED: November 2010
STATUS: Agreements reached with Chesapeake Energy (for Carroll, Columbiana, Guernsey, Harrison, Jefferson, Tuscarawas and Stark counties), and Gulfport Energy (for Belmont County only). Leases being signed.
ENROLLMENT OPEN?: Enrollment open
Visit the Ohio Valley Group Page for more information
NAME: Cambria CountyLandowners Group (in partnership with Co-eXprise and Attorney Paul Eckenrode) GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Cambria County and surrounding counties, Pennsylvania (Marcellus/Utica shale)
APPROXIMATE SIZE: N/A
TYPE OF PROPERTY: Primarily properties that are not under lease.
ORIGINALLY FORMED: March 2011
STATUS: Group building/enrollment
ENROLLMENT OPEN?: Enrollment open
Visit the Cambria County Landowners Group Page for more information
NAME: Grand View Lease Group GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Braddock, North Braddock, Allegheny County, PA
APPROXIMATE SIZE: About 10 landowners and 500 acres (all contiguous)
TYPE OF PROPERTY: Properties not under lease, contiguous to group member properties
ORIGINALLY FORMED: May 2010
STATUS: Leases signed, closing pending
ENROLLMENT OPEN?: No
NAME: Buena Vista Landowners Group
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Central Butler County, PA
APPROXIMATE SIZE: (as of 8/31/2010) about 5 landowners 500+ acres
TYPE OF PROPERTY: Primarily properties that are not under lease or with leases expiring within the next 1-3 years.
ORIGINALLY FORMED: August 2010
STATUS: Preparing for bid.
ENROLLMENT OPEN?: Yes
NEWLY FORMING GROUPS (click on the group name for more information):
NAME:F&M Landowners Group #2 (in partnership with Ohio attorneys) GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Trumbull, Ashtabula, Portage, Geauga and Lake Counties, in northeastern Ohio
APPROXIMATE SIZE: Newly formed, no acreage count yet.
TYPE OF PROPERTY: Primarily properties not under lease.
ORIGINALLY FORMED: October 2011
STATUS: Aggregation of member properties
ENROLLMENT OPEN?: yes
NAME:Rome-Alexander Township Landowners Group (in partnership with Ohio attorneys and America's Choice Realty) GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Athens County, Ohio
APPROXIMATE SIZE: 22,000+ acres (as of 12/14/2011)
TYPE OF PROPERTY: Primarily properties not under lease.
ORIGINALLY FORMED: November 2011
STATUS: Aggregation of member properties/accepting bids
ENROLLMENT OPEN?: yes
NAME:Casselman Valley Landowners Group GEOGRAPHIC AREA: southern Somerset County, PA and the Casselman Valley
APPROXIMATE SIZE: 4,000+ acres (as of 12/14/2011)
TYPE OF PROPERTY: Primarily properties not under lease.
ORIGINALLY FORMED: November 2011
STATUS: Aggregation of member properties
ENROLLMENT OPEN?: yes
