Over recent months and years we have observed most of the wrong ways, and a very few right ways to negotiate the payments and terms under an oil and gas lease. Hindsight is most certainly 20/20. It should now be obvious to all of us that the gas companies will be bringing a new industry to our region, and that the landmen working for them are focused on acquiring leases as quickly and cheaply as possible. The company agents also have vastly superior negotiation skills to most of us, and they have a wealth of inside information not available to any of us. Should we be surprised then that the landmen seldom have the landowner’s best interest at heart while at kitchen table negotiations?
Unlike leases of the past, these leases are a very serious undertaking. Today’s leases are no longer just "a way to get a few extra bucks to pay the taxes" on our homes, farms and recreational properties. There is big money involved, at least on our local scale, and actual drilling and production of natural gas is now a distinct and likely possibility. With that comes a multitude of issues that will directly and substantially affect not only our bank accounts, but possibly also the use, enjoyment and character of our properties for decades to come. We cannot afford to be alone and uniformed when entering into property transactions of this magnitude, usually involving our most valuable assets. But yet, in almost all negotiations only an inexperienced and uninformed landowner is focusing on the lessor’s interest. By surrendering to the "grab it now" emotion that is so easily recognized and stoked by the gas industry’s well-trained closers, we may very likely sell ourselves short. This is not the fault of the landmen; they are only doing their job. The shame is on us for having the ego to think that we can negotiate and compete on equal footing.
Gas Group, LLC is a regionally based consulting and marketing agency that has been founded by a life-long Lycoming County resident to exclusively represent the lessor interest in negotiations for oil and gas leases. The goal of the agency is to seize the full potential of this "once in a lifetime opportunity" for our friends and neighbors in northcentral and northeastern Pennsylvania.
Straight talk is now available to first help you understand the process and answer some of the questions about the leases and the lease market. Click the links in the left hand column of this page to preview a sampling of this information. After you register and enroll your property by completing the Gas Group, LLC, Oil and Gas Lease Exclusive Consulting and Marketing Agreement, we will provide continuously updated and expanded information about leases and lease terms, addendums, lease pitfalls, market conditions, active companies, etc., all on our inside pages.
Even more importantly, we will package and market your property with others in properly sized and properly located offerings to solicit lease bids from gas companies. The logical grouping of properties, and the resulting larger acreage size of the offerings, will allow us to achieve negotiation leverage in the marketing of your leases. Individual landowners will then be able to consider leases with the most beneficial payment arrangements and protective terms available at any given time. Our compensation for these services is performance based so we will always be driven to secure the best offers possible for our clients.
Your enrollment and unity is the only common sense approach to the leasing of your property. That unity will allow us to use marketing methods and tactics not available to the individual landowner. This will benefit all parties involved. The landowners will benefit by receiving better lease offers; the gas companies will benefit by eliminating manpower costs in acquiring land leases for exploration and development. That’s a Win/Win situation.
If you have not signed a lease yet, please read more about our approach to landowner leasing. More detailed information about each aspect of Gas Group’s services is provided there. If you have visited our site before and you want to engage our services, you may register and enroll your property and complete the Gas Group, LLC, Oil and Gas Lease Exclusive Consulting and Marketing Agreement by Registering Now.
If you still choose to act on your own, at least educate yourself about leases and lease terms. Read the leases carefully and re-read them until you understand. Talk to your lawyer. Talk to your accountant and your financial advisor. Talk to your friends and neighbors about their own experiences and their actual contacts with the landmen. Before long, you will also be able to talk to other Gas Group clients about their successes from using our services. But always remember, all of the unsubstantiated rumors about lease deals, gas company interest or lack of interest in certain areas, or the right addendums to a lease, will often yield little factual information. It may be exciting banter for your coffee talks, but it usually adds little value in the negotiations for an oil and gas lease.
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