Freestone County Leasing Update 1/26/2024

[Alan_Herrington]

Leasing for the developing Lower Bossier/Haynesville began in Robertson County, then moved into Leon County. Now the leasing focus is shifting into Freestone County.

The three major players identified so far, Aethon, Comstock, and Sabana/Vanna/Thorp, have established leasing positions in Freestone County, along with a fourth player, Fieldview Resources. Here is some info on each.

Comstock

Comstock acquired a significant amount of HBP acreage in Freestone County via their acquisition from Legacy Reserves (60,000 net acres located in Robertson, Limestone, Leon, and Freestone Counties). However, the acreage amounts were not disclosed by county. Leasing via Surprise Valley Resources and in their own name, they have added an additional 22,000 acres (ballpark) within the county plus another 2,000 acres in tracts that overlap Freestone and Leon. Much of this leasing has only recently been recorded, with Surprise Valley recording 231 lease memos on November, 15, 2023, plus an additional 281 on January 17, 2024.

Sabana/Vanna/Thorp

With regard to recent leasing, SVT has built the biggest position, covering 27,000 acres in Freestone plus an additional 6,000 acres in tracts that overlap Freestone and Leon.

Aethon

Aethon’s primary lease area is in Robertson County, but they have established small positions in Leon and Freestone. In Freestone, they have leased about 5,600 acres.

Fieldview Resources

Although inactive in Roberston and Leon, Fieldview Resources has recently recorded leases in Freestone and Anderson Counties, in tracts that cross the Trinity River. Ballpark acreage so far is 8,600 acres in Freestone and 4,400 in Anderson. Many of their Freestone County lease memos indicate the leases are only for depths below 15,330 feet, suggesting that their focus could be Lower Bossier/Haynesville (or some variant). The E&P company behind the leasing is not known at this time.

Here are maps the Freestone County surveys in which each player has leased acreage:

Comstock Legacy Reserves Acquisition

Comstock Recent Leasing

Comstock Combined

Sabana/Vanna/Thorp

Aethon

Fieldview

[Twinee]

Thank you, Alan. This is very valuable information!

[jas24]

Thanks Alan. I’ve been approached by Thorp and Surprise for leases around the Keechi area for both Leon and Freestone. It looks like interest may remain pretty active there. I’ve put things on hold on my side. I really appreciate your detailed posts.

[Mineral_Owner5]

Keechi? Are your referring to the area near the Keechi Creek wildlife Management Area in Eastern Leon County north of Hwy 7? Thank you for the information.

[Mineral_Owner5]

Mr. Harrington, do you know the name of the company that Fieldview acquired the leases from that are below the 15,330 ft. depth? Also I assume that Fieldview is a broker for whom?

[jas24]

Yes, the Keechi creek area.

[Alan_Herrington]

Fieldview didn’t acquire those leases…they wrote them with various parties. You can find their Freestone County lease memos here:

https://freestone.tx.publicsearch.us/results?department=RP&limit=50&offset=0&recordedDateRange=19240109%2C20240124&searchOcrText=false&searchType=quickSearch&searchValue=fieldview&sort=asc&sortBy=recordedDate

If you review those filings, you will see the Fieldview also has bought and sold some mineral tracts in addition to leasing.

I have no idea yet who Fieldview is leasing for.

[Mineral_Owner5]

If a mineral tract is “unleased” and a company comes in to lease it, then why only lease the formations below 15,330 ft. and below? Why not lease the entire mineral tract? I assumed that Fieldview would have leased the lower depths from another company that already had the leases or had them HBP’ed.

[Alan_Herrington]

I assume Fieldview wrote those leases for the deep rights because the shallow rights were already leased to another company, probably HBP.