MIDDLESEX TWP — Township supervisor Chairman Mike Spreng announced at Wednesday night’s meeting that a Marcellus Shale gas driller has contacted him regarding leasing township property for gas extraction.

Spreng said a representative of Rex Energy called him to ask about the possibility of leasing some or all of the township’s 20-plus acres on Browns Hill Road.

Spreng said Rex officials likely will attend a township meeting to make their proposal to the supervisors.

He said lease payment amounts were not discussed during the call, and the Rex representative did not indicate whether the company is interested in horizontal drilling beneath the township land or placing wells there.

Spreng asked the other two supervisors to think about potentially leasing township property so they would be prepared to hear Rex’s proposal.

Rex energy recently offered neighboring Clinton Township up-front payments of $3,500 for the initial five-year lease, and $5,000 for the second lease, plus 17 percent in royalties.

Reid Joyce, a member of the anti-drilling group Marcellus Outreach Middlesex, said he hopes the supervisors will not lease the land.

Regarding the potential of lease money as revenue for the township, Joyce said counting on royalties is tenuous.

“You don’t know how much the royalty is going to be,” Joyce said. “Until drilling happens, you don’t know 17 percent of what. It could be trivial.”

Spreng did not know when Rex will make its proposal to the supervisors.

The company recently began installing a gas well on private property on Logan Road in Middlesex.