We signed our Kastner lease today. Only got $3000/acre but got the 25% royalty and several other concessions. (1) They agreed not to deduct from our royalty the costs for marketing and production; (2) They agreed to indemnify us from any future government fines that may be levied for environmental cleanup; and (3) They included a very clear NO SURFACE USE addendum -- The lease itself had "No Surface Use" in parentheses in the title but paragraph 10 over-rode that with wording that allowed them to lay pipes, drive rigs, or do whatever else they needed to do above our land.
We requested but did not receive (1) a strata restriction which would have restricted their drilling rights to only the Barnett Shale or (2) an increase from 200' to 600' for the easement -- they claim the 200' easement clause is only for exploration, which is completed, but we couldn't decipher the wording well enough to be sure of that.
They say that 90% of our Westpoint has signed now, that drilling currently is only occurring in the tract between Loop 820 and Academy, and that we might expect them to expand drilling into our neighborhood early next year (2012).
