City looking to lease land for gas exploration and development

The city of Fort Worth is looking to cash in on its subsurface wealth — a piece of Barnett Shale, an unconventional East Texas play containing trillions of cubic feet of potential natural gas reserves.

Doug Rademaker, director of the city’s engineering department, told the Star-Telegram last month, “Our goal is to have our first gas well this summer, and by late summer, we could be producing.”

The city council has hired Bank One to manage the site selection, leasing and contracting process. Revenues generated from leasing and production would go into the city’s general fund, which pays for services such as police and fire protection and code enforcement. Bank One will receive a percentage of those revenues as payment for its services. Currently, Bank One is reviewing Fort Worth’s potential gas properties. Those that have generated the most interest from E&P companies to date include tracts near the Alliance Airport, Meacham Airport, the Village Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, the Fort Worth Nature Center and Buck Sansom Park, the Star-Telegram reported.

Dot Kent, interim public information officer for Fort Worth, told Petroleum News Feb. 26 that the next step will be to finalize site selection, which she said “won’t be quick. Bank One has to look at a number of issues including environmental and neighborhood concerns, making sure we are doing everything correctly” and the site selections have to be approved by the city council.

“After that, the sites will go out for competitive bids,” Kent said.