My mother owned rights to three wells. Named 1, 2 and 3. I have the original probate paperwork from 1983 when she inherited them. She received checks for all three until at least 1995 but then I don't have any records until 2005. On the 2005 statement, 3 is missing. In 1999, the well changed hands. It has twice since then, with Antero picking up ownership in 2013. So, if the rights still belong to her, then who is getting the money? This is 5/42 shares. My cousin still owns a share, she no longer receives payment for the third well either. She isn't really sure when they stopped paying? 1 and 2 are abandoned. 3 is active?
My mom lived in the same house for the past 23 years. She wasn't lost.
The deeper I get into this, the more confusing it becomes.
Do you know who the lessor was during the time in question? Could it have been Dominion? My grandmother was "lost" at some point, and we were able to get prior royalties from CNX for the 3 years that they were the lessor. But before that, it was Dominion. I'm in the process of contacting them.
Honestly, I don't know. The leases were let by my GGrandfather. My cousin, who is in her 70s says that her daddy always told her that the leases were 99 year leases. We receive a small sum each year on well number 1 and 2 are abandoned. I shared the information with my cousin said she HAS received funds annually on the third well, but not from anyone on the WV DEP website.
When I asked about working interest, that is generally specific to a well. A company owns the lease (either leasing from the lessor (mineral owner) or by assignment from a company who was the original lessee or its assignee. Sometimes they get investors to invest in a well, for a working interest %. Sometimes the working interest is in the whole lease. In the "olden days" of 12/5% (1/8) leases, the lessee retained the 87.5% (7/8) interest in the whole lease. Sometimes the Lessee sold part of that. All that can get complicated. The number 5/42 sounds more like a working interest number than royalty but could be either.
I guess you have checked the well API numbers in the West Virginia Office of Oil and Gas website?
The #3 well, you said it was missing in 2005? were the other 2 producing then?
Have you looked here Doddridge County recordsfor the lease (from your ggrandfather?) may be there. Or you might have a copy of the lease.
When you say you have the probate paperwork for the wells, were the 3 wells listed? or just some type of mineral or oil and gas interest?
Sometimes payment comes from a different named organization than the operator. The listed operator must be bonded, and sometimes companies hire a bonded operator to be the official entity. Lots of possibilities.
Have I asked enough questions? LOL
There are many ways for something to be complicated. Seems like yours has several!
Thank you for the clarification of working vs. royalty. I will do some more digging. There is no record of the leases in the Doddridge County website. That certainly would make life a lot easier. My cousin is still working on seeing if she still has them. When I said the documents from 1995-2005 are missing, I meant I have letters talking about all three wills from the lessee in 1995 with all three well numbers on it. The next document I have from my Mom's is from 2005, it does well number 3 listed on it.
The documents I have for the filing with Doddridge county in 1983 have all three wells. I also have a letter from a "Vacation Estates" in 1993, 1994 and 1995 with all three wells listed. But then the next paperwork was from 2005 a check stub for wells 1 & 2 only? I don't think she received anything after that. (Unless I missed it in the MOUNDS of paperwork she had saved for the last 23 years!)
Nancy, complicated does not begin to touch this stuff. I have another set that I only just found out about because Stephanie posted the link for records.
I am very thankful for your reply. I already contacted Mr. Nuttal last week but do to the nature of my situation, he has referred me to someone else but it will be another week or so before we can hook up. Hopefully, I can get help from there. It is just so hard to be patient.
Ok, an idea: check the Doddridge leases database under the company names to see if you see an assignment of leases from one to another. Might be a "wild goose chase" but might be helpful. It is not unusual to have operators change from one year to the next, but sometimes it is with a lease assignment (one company bought the lease from another) and sometimes a company doesn't have a bond to operate a well and will have an arrangement with a company that is bonded to operate the well (out in the field) while the company owning the lease might just pay the royalty owner.
I found the transfers of operators for a couple of the changes of hands. I also discovered in that search the date of the original lease, 1904. There was another set in 1973. Interestingly enough, those are all listed for 120 acres. Our tax records only show 100? How about that? We lost 20 acres somewhere? I wish I could lose 20lbs that easily. =(
I am still digging. Thanks for the idea. It has certainly panned out.
I forgot, I called EXCO and Antero. I have heard back form both. Exco claims to have passed everything on to Antero. Antero has returned my call but digging up paperwork.
Thanks, Stephanie! I like digging around things.Sounds like you did a lot of digging as well to come up with that information.
About the difference between 100 and 120 acres: sounds like you need to do a title search, but might start with the assessor's office in Doddridge and ask if they have a listing of where you or your predecessors in title (probably your ancestors) acquired the property. Maybe a deed book and page number, or will book. Sometimes acreages change because there was a survey which corrected old information and sometimes it is an error in the assessor's office.
Not all of the numbers will be here, but there might be one or more.
If not, you can contact Debbie at Seneca Technologies, and order well records and maps (the same as are on the batchinfo site, but a little more usually) for a nominal fee. The maps show the lease acreage and who owns surrounding tracts, and should show the mineral rights owners as well as surface owners somewhere on the document. [email protected]
Good luck with Antero and the information. Now is the time to get as much info as possible.
I forgot how close you live to the courthouse. Even though it is busy, if you could get there and look some things up yourself you might have some more answers. Or maybe Antero will have all you need.
Have fun!
Stephanie P said:
Nancy, you are the BOMB!
I found the transfers of operators for a couple of the changes of hands. I also discovered in that search the date of the original lease, 1904. There was another set in 1973. Interestingly enough, those are all listed for 120 acres. Our tax records only show 100? How about that? We lost 20 acres somewhere? I wish I could lose 20lbs that easily. =(
I am still digging. Thanks for the idea. It has certainly panned out.
I will follow up with Debbie ASAP. Thanks for that lead.
I am in Tampa, FL. That makes all this digging a challenge. I am beginning to think a trip to Doddridge County is in order. I wish I had gotten in the middle of this while my husband was stationed in KY or MD. I would have been there already. =(
While you are digging, if you are interested in historic maps, there are "old farm maps" of many of the counties of WV available from Central Drafting in Parkersburg WV
They have the large scale version (probably 10 or more sheets for Doddridge) and a small scale (probably 2 sheets). This map was prepared around 1905 by the oil companies so they would have a good idea of who owned what property (surface ownership listed). If the tract were leased, that was recorded on the map, and some oil or gas wells. Interesting to compare these maps with the current tax maps. Your property, leased in 1904, would be there, maybe with the leaseholder's name.
Yes, KY and MD are a lot closer to Doddridge than Tampa!.
I called Central Drafting today but no answer. I will follow up later. I found the information on the original lease in 1904. It was with Wheeling Natural Gas. I found an assignment in 1973 with a land map, which helps a LOT!
There is also a cease and desist order issued in 1974 by my grandfather. It lists four wells, not three? I found one under one of his brother's names in the state https://apps.dep.wv.gov/oog/wellsearch_new.cfm I find it curious that the one in that name has the operator listed as Mike Ross, whom my cousin receives a royalty check? But, she thought it was for well 3? She is going to call today to find out the correct API number she is receiving the check for.
I called Antero, waiting for an second call back. I am very interested in what they have to say?
Nancy, I think I found the hole where the 20 acres dropped in, but not the paperwork that goes with it. But it is on my list. I emailed Debbie, ordered my Grant District map and talked to the Lawyer and tied up a few more lose ends. Your help has been critical to my success this far!
where you can put in an API number and see production data, and find it on the map. This gives a little different way of viewing than on the WV Office of Oil and Gas map site
With either, you can find nearby wells, and, if you want ALL the info you can find, you can order well maps (from Seneca (Debbie) if you can't find it on the batchInfo site
Honestly, her email with the documents I requested made my day! I had a question, she turned me over to Patrick who was VERY helpful! You have given me the information I needed to get this stuff straight. I can't begin to express how grateful I am to you.
Those well maps are VERY interesting, aren't they! When I found out about them and started getting them, it answered so many of my questions.
I'm so glad I can help share these many different ways of finding out things about our West Virginia minerals related things. Others have given me some of this info; I hope that those of us who get comfortable with these tools can help others as well.