NEW BEDFORD, Pa. (AP) — An energy company has dropped its bid to force holdout property owners in Pennsylvania to accept drilling under their land.
Houston-based Hilcorp said Friday it wants to move beyond a protracted fight and begin producing oil and gas.
The company had sought to use a 1961 Pennsylvania law to drill under the property of a few holdout landowners in New Bedford, near the Ohio border an hour north of Pittsburgh. The concept, known as “forced pooling,” means people who don’t sign leases get bundled in with those who do, to make drilling more efficient and compensate all the landowners.
Hilcorp says it will instead drill around landowners who refused to sign leases with the company.
Hilcorp says property owners holding 99 percent of the acreage in the 3,267-acre tract have signed leases.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.