PRESTON – The Town of Preston leased 7.1 acres of surplus property on Monday to a Canadian-based energy company in a compulsory integration contract that would yield 18.75 percent in royalties.

Gastem U.S.A. of Montreal, Quebec leased the land in a Norse Energy, Inc. spacing unit. The well, called the Maynard, is permitted to be drilled horizontally for natural gas within the Herkimer sandstone strata. It is located off of county Rt. 4 across from the Preston Town Hall and highway garage.

Gastem owns mineral rights on approximately 35,000 acres in the natural gas rich Cherry Valley region of Otsego County. The company has already drilled two wells into the Utica Shale strata there. This lease is the company’s first in Chenango County.