I’ve looked in on this site occasionally in the past, although not for some time, and seeing the recent references to Nighthawk, I thought that it was about time I posted here. By way of introduction, I’m a farm manager from the UK, and a small time investor in Nighthawk. I have been researching the oil industry in Lincoln and surrounding counties for the past 5 years, and in particular the leasing situation - the detailed leasing maps on the company presentations are my work. I see the links on here to presentations in June 2012 and August 2013, but there was also one in May this year. The following link gives the slides and video:
The leasing map used as the basis for slides on pages 18 and 19 was correct as far as I was aware in December 2012, but I ought to point out some changes. Firstly an agent, Mason Dixon, had been acquiring lease for SouthWestern Energy in Arapahoe and Adams, and I had assumed that they were also doing so in Lincoln and Elbert. As it turned out, the leases they got in Lincoln and Elbert were for Cascade, who have also taken on the Devon leases. There has been quite a lot of assigning of leases between Cascade and PineRidge to rationalise their respective positions. So the Cascade share of the play is a lot larger than page 18 indicates and the southern extent of South Western’s interest is limited to T05S. Unit and Nighthawk have been active this year in extending their leases and a lot of small agents/operators have appeared to pick up whatever they can – they were excluded from the presentation maps as was the Anadarko position.
The following links might prove useful to some of you:
The County Recorders for Lincoln,Kiowa,Cheyenne and Washington can be found at:
Thanks for weighing in on the Lincoln, Co., CO oil and gas activity by Nighthawk, Et. Al. and thanks for posting the link to the May 2013 Nighthawk presentation.
Since you appear to be close to Nighthawk and their activities, maybe you can answer a nagging question of mine that I've had for some time.
That question is this:
Nighthawk appears to have a huge land position in and around Lincoln Co. and very limited financial resources to exploit those land positions. I have a very hard time visualizing how Nighthawk will ever be able to drill out all of the possible prospects. Do you have any insight to what a 5 year plan might look like for Nighthawk?
I’m not really that close to them, so this is purely my point of view. They are making some useful money with the Spergen wells at Arikaree Creek, and in the short term I see them developing that field further to fund further wildcatting. There are currently 2 permits pending for development wells at AC. I expect them to farm out a part of their acreage within 6-12 months to help develop the shale play, and expect them to sell out completely if one or more of the operators in the area is successful in getting oil out of the Cherokee on a regular basis putting the value of leases up significantly.
I would be interested to know how much lease is changing hands for at the moment, if anyone knows of recent values. I’ll look in again tomorrow, time for bed now.
Sit tight and wait. They will first lease the major land owners in your area, and once you hear about that activity it will only be a matter of time before they work their way down to the landowners with less than 50 acres. Let us know if landmen start working in your area
I have been a oil and gas landman for over 3 years now. In my experience, grouping up as landowners is without a doubt the best thing you can do when working with oil and gas producers. It provides a lot of leverage in your negotiations for a better price and a better agreement. I would recommend talking with Jordan, it sounds like they have a good group that is ready to deal with producers when they come knocking.