Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District Gets Huge Bonus Payment in Latest Lease Agreement
From the Akron Beacon Journal:
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Landowners in the 18-county Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District will see a 50 percent reduction in annual assessments starting next year.
The district’s board approved the cut at a meeting today in which it also announced what appears to be the most lucrative drilling-rights lease deal ever signed in Ohio.
Colorado-based Antero Resources will pay $15,000 per acre to drill on more than 6,300 acres of district-owned land at Piedmont Lake in Guernsey, Harrison and Belmont counties.
That would produce a one-time signing bonus for the district in excess of $94 million, plus royalty payments of 20 percent on natural gas and liquids produced by those wells.
The biggest bonus paid landowners by drillers in eastern Ohio is about $7,500 an acre. There have been deals between companies where the price per acre has been $10,000 to $12,000. But the price paid by Antero to the district is unprecedented.
Another 300 acres will be added to the lease later, officials said. That acreage will be leased later by Antero at the same financial rate.You can read more here.
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