Since 7/15/2022, Key Exploration has been gradually filing lease memos in Houston County. 39 lease memos filed through 3/28/2024, with 16 of the filings occurring during March.
All the filings involve acreage in the Ramon de la Garza Survey, A-33. I have not verified the acreage in each filing, but the header entries suggest that the total lease area is now about 3,000 acres.
What makes this interesting is that the Garza Survey adjoins Leon County. If you head east on Highway 7 from Centerville in Leon County the road enters the Garza Survey when you cross over the Trinity River into Houston County. Leon County has been a hotbed of leasing as Comstock and other entities pursue an opportunity in the Lower Bossier/Haynesville interval.
Also, it’s worth noting that Key has established a large position in Cherokee County over the same time period. They wrote 385 leases on about 55,000 acres subject to two-year seismic options (plus other leases not subject to seismic options). So far, they have exercised about 90% of those options.
Could all of this activity be related? Maybe, maybe not.
Has anyone signed a lease with Key In Houston County? If you have, please share what you know about this project.
This is the same area that has been leased, shallow drilled for 50 plus year’s. Companies such as Anadarko, Inexco, Lake Ronel, Devon Energy and EOG have leased this area. It’s a Bossier Sand area. Year’s ago they could not drill horizontal in the deep Bossier. Now they can and it’s a whole new ball game. This area has had numerous 2-D seismic and a huge 500 square mile 3-D program shot in about 2010-2011. Lease bonus in 2012 was $850.
Chesapeake had a huge lease hold in this area around 2010, 2012. When the Haynesville Shale play started along with the Eagle Ford they suddenly stopped activities and moved to these “SHALE” area’s.
Here’s a map that shows Comstock’s lease area in Robertson and Leon Counties, the Garza Survey in Houston County (3,000 acres of Key Exploration leasing), and the Key Exploration lease area in Cherokee County (55,000+ acres):
I have 500 acres in the Ramon de la Garza Survey in Leon County. Some of this survey is in the Alabama Ferry Field but the guy the has it is just waiting for a buyer. Its around 14,000 acre field. Some is in the Garza and some in the F Del Valley survey.
Solar Farm offers. A company named Candela Renewables is making offers for a Solar Farm just north of Crockett, Texas for $800 per net mineral acre to a mineral owner I know. It is the initial offer. They have abstracted the title all the way back to 1835 forward to the present. Another company has offered $1,000 per acre per year for a 30 year period in another location in Houston County.
