Natural Gas Leases: $20,000 an acre + 30% royalty

from KTBS

The Haynesville Shale has taken Louisiana by storm in a very short period of time.

In March, Chesapeak Energy announced the shale -- estimating the field had as much as 20 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That would put it at four times the size of the gas field around Fort Worth known as the Barnett shale -- one of the biggest in the world.

A year ago, oil companies paid less than $250 an acre for the leasing rights to drill. Now, property owners are getting $20,000 an acre and as much as 30% of what a well brings in -- three times what it was a few months ago.