I picked up my third natural gas purchase this week. I used the same niche that I have used before. Find a location where there were old Medina (surface) Wells and the owner gave up all OGM rights (including the rights under the former gas pocket). Within these sites, look for Utica or Marcellius pockets where companies have drilled the second well already and the well is paying out.

My target payments are only 8-12% ROI for my gas wells. So I am not targeting grand slams - just steady payments for about 20 years or so. This latest play took me to the far NE part of Pa in Susquehanna County, near where NJ, NY and Pa touch one another. This play isn't a huge one at just $50,000 of surplus 1031 funds.

8 to 12% isn't a huge return, but when coupled with no phone calls, and depletion tax allowances, I see this as a bet that data centers are not just going away.

Good deal there Ray.

If I had the surplus funds I would be hitting you up for the correct info to look for.

I don’t know anything about the safety of these types of investments but 8-12% sounds pretty great when I am lucky if I can get a 6% cap in a decent area. Im not betting on real estate values rising much in the next 5 years so I very much doubt I’ll get over 8-12 the next 5 years.

Back in the late 70s my dad talked me into purchasing 80 acres of bottomland swamp in Bienville Parrish LA just for deer hunting and timber. $20k total. We purchased mineral rights with the land, although they were worthless at the time.

Some petroleum company leased the rights for maybe $5/acre for 5 years...

Around 1996, the Haynesville Shale Formation was discovered...largest oil bearing shale in the world at that point...and it ran under that property!

Lease expired the very next month. New lease was for $26k PER ACRE PER YEAR, plus 3/16 of the royalties if and when the well came in...it did.

I'm thinking NG won't drop much until data center energy demand drops.