Tuesday, November 20, 2007

More Westside Drilling on the Way

All those folks in Tanglewood will soon get to find out how much they really like urban gas drilling. TCU announced on its Web site that the natural gas exploration lease for TCU's campus has been transferred from Four Sevens Resources Co., Ltd. to Chesapeake Exploration, LLC, an affiliate of Chesapeake Energy Corporation.

Four Sevens work as the landmen for Chesapeake, and it's an arrangement that works quite well for them. Last year, Four Sevens and Sinclair Oil sold 39,000 acres in the to Chesapeake for $845 million in cash to Chesapeake Energy. Four Sevens and Sinclair split the take 50-50.

Sez TCU: "Currently, Chesapeake has begun to conduct site analysis near remote parking on the north side of campus. In addition, the company also will begin the process of filing initial permits with the Texas Railroad Commission and communicating with local residents.

"TCU's decision to drill follows on the heels of other Metroplex organizations pursuing natural gas exploration opportunities with Chesapeake. These organizations include the City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County College, Fort Worth Independent School District, Tarrant Regional Water District, Colonial Country Club and the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport."

Wow, that's pretty impressive list of clients, Chesapeake.

Of course, I think it is also worth noting that Four Sevens executive Dick Lowe was the booster at the heart of the TCU football recruiting scandal back in the 1980s. Back then, Lowe said that a "blue chip" running back cost $10,000 to $25,000 down, $1,000 a month and a new car.

1 comment:

Anton Seim said...

Grrreat, I suppose it was only a matter of time before TCU got in on the gas boom. Just another way TCU is making me wonder how they convinced me to give them $100,000 for my education.

TCU has a long history of corporate collusion though, so this doesn't come as much of a surprise. Whether it's the Barnes and Noble Bookstore, the Marriott run cafeteria, or Chesapeake energy. If you've got a symbiotic deal to cut, TCU is ready to sign on the dotted line.