BUTLER TWP — Only one company is vying to remove the Marcellus Shale natural gas and oil from under the township’s two parks.

The township commissioners Wednesday night opened, then delayed consideration of, the only bid it received: XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobile, offered the township $2,677 per acre and a 15 percent royalty.

Township manager Ed Kirkwood said the proposal will be reviewed, and it could be back before the commissioners for a vote as soon as the next meeting on Feb. 17.

If the proposal is accepted by the township, the company would not be permitted to drill on the township’s property. Rather, it would have the right to remove the gas and oil from underground.

Butler Township Park is at 468 S. Duffy Road, and Preston Park is at 415 S. Eberhart Road. Both have about 100 acres.

Under the proposal, the township would get more than $500,000 for the rights for the land plus the 15 percent royalty.

Neither Kirkwood nor the commissioners would give an immediate reaction to the offer.

“I don’t have a benchmark yet,” Kirkwood said.

XTO already has a drilling site in the township at the AK Steel property at 1 Armco Drive in Lyndora. Drilling began there in November.