An administrator said TCU will recommend to the board of trustees today that Four Sevens Resources Co. be named the university’s “natural gas operator.” Brian Gutierrez, vice chancellor for finance and administration, said in an e-mail Thursday that the designation would jump-start negotiations with Four Sevens to generate a lease allowing exploration for natural gas on TCU property.

Today’s recommendation is the university’s first sign of communication with the TCU-area community regarding a potential gas lease; communication, Gutierrez said, would occur once more information had been gathered about the feasibility of drilling on campus.

Terms of a potential lease, Gutierrez said, have not been settled, nor has a specific drilling site on campus.

More than a week ago, Colt Exploration, a leasing broker under contract with Four Sevens, placed fliers in the Colonial Park neighborhood announcing that Four Sevens “has been awarded the TCU gas lease!”

Gutierrez confirmed negotiations with Four Sevens but said Feb. 22 that Colt was premature in its placement of the fliers.

Because TCU’s 260-acre campus sits atop the Barnett Shale, one of the United States’ largest natural gas reservoirs, its mineral rights have been sought after by many local oil and gas companies.