Why does gas leasing take so long?

H.L. Hunt, Dad Joiner, and their ilk started something a century ago – a business wrapped in intrigue and bravado. It’s still around, colored even further by the politics of since-enacted state regulation and municipal restrictions. The result comes up somewhere between hide-the-ball and chess. A game not so much between property owners and gas companies, but between rival companies. What drilling sites are feasible? What does whose geology/seismic show? Who’s going to make a bet where? What are the permitting authorities most likely to do? And, as in any other industry, animosity between companies and individuals can be a factor. Then there’s posturing, very common in a stare-down industry. Just ask any of the many airline employees in our area.

All these moving pieces create an ever-changing scenario. Expressions that fit are ones such as juggling oysters or herding cats. And the coalition representing property owners has to function in that scenario, with no control over it.

Eventually things come to rest, or at least to be viewed as being as stable as they will be. On the up-side, the situation is self-righting. There are only so many pieces and moves on a chess board. Chess takes a long time, but it always ends. But one can see all the pieces on a chess board…they don’t run around playing ‘guess where I am?’ under the ground, or in speculated permitting hearings.

See why it takes a while?