I have been told that my husband’s grandfather had mineral rights in Reeves Co. I am told it is Section 207, Block 13. We have been told the mineral rights are a certain percentage. We have a company that wants to purchase the mineral rights from him. I have found this location on the map and it appears there might be 4 wells in that section. Are mineral rights attached to all four wells? Or only one specific well? I have found the well production records for the last several years and I think I know how to calculate the potential earnings from the well. I just don’t know if it is a specific well or all 4. Knowing this will help us to determine if the price being offered is a fair price. Thank you.
Your interest will depend on whether it is a fraction of the minerals in the entire section (an interest in all the wells) or a fraction of the minerals in a specified tract within the section such as NE/4 of S/4 (an interest in only one well). Do you know if other heirs of Grandfather are in pay? In 2020, Noble filed Service Lists for missing owners. Go to RRC website - Queries - Drilling Permits. Enter Noble as operator and Clay Prewit as well name. The list of wells will appear. Each well appears several times as Noble kept refiling documents. Click on each well name to see filings to find Service List for that well and see if a relative’s name appears. The “A 1H” well only has 3 names and the “C 5H” well has a long list. That may give you some guidance. Chevron now operates all the wells. Contact owner relations by email and send a detailed note including the names of Grandfather and heirs down to your husband, the block and section and any legal other legal description of the tract, and the full names of each well (including the API and RRC lease number). API for each well is 42-389-5 digits and RRC lease number is 08-5 digits. These are on the permit page. So for A 1H well - API 42-389-38866 and RRC 08-54973. Same process for Sam Prewit 207 #1 well which ceased producing in January 2020. Ask about the process to get in pay on the well(s). If there is an interest in the well, there will be back royalties which either being held by Chevron or have been sent to Texas Unclaimed Funds in the name of the last owner of record (Grandfather?). You can look on line for unclaimed funds. You will have to establish title down to your husband for his interest. If other heirs are in pay, they may have relevant records for you. This will take time, but you want to get the back royalties and then be paid the value of the minerals.
Thank you for all the information you provided in your reply.
I looked on the RR Commission website under the query as you suggested. I was able to find the service lists but I did not see the grandfather’s name listed. My husband was contacted by a company that wants to buy his mineral rights. This company had the names of his grandfather and the grandfather’s children (i.e., his mother, his uncle and his aunt who are all deceased). He had my husband’s name; and he had my husband’s niece’s name (daughter of my husband’s brother). There are also children of my husband’s sister but they have not been contacted. To my understanding, the children of the uncle and aunt have not been contacted either.
It was this company that provided us the county; block and section number; and percentage of ownership. They did not give us any well information. They have made a verbal offer for the mineral rights to my husband and the neice but have not formally put anything in writing although their plans are to send a written offer this weekend. But we can’t get any other information. We want to be sure the other descendants are included. We want to be sure we are getting past due royalties (if any) and a fair price for the mineral rights.
If I contact Chevron owner relations, and share as much info as we know, will they be able to help piece together the missing parts? Or will they only give me info if I truly have the correct block and section along with the specific well.
Thank you in advance for any other information you can share.
You can also look at the Reeves County deed records to see under Grandfather’s name to find any deed or lease or other documents. You might also check under names of parents of Grandfather. It is free to set up an account and research. Then you pay $1 per page to purchase the document. You might start with last name and first initial, as people did not always use full names. Or last name and first name or last name and nickname. You can set date span or leave open-ended. Look under Mother’s name (maiden and married) to see if there were any assignments. Or other family names. Be sure to consider a variance in spelling of last name as sometimes that happens. Johnson vs Johnston. This will give you a legal description of the tract. Here is link https://reeves.tx.publicsearch.us/
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You are so helpful. I honestly didn’t know where to start and you have given me so much information. I will look at Reeves County deeds. I hope I don’t have to keep asking for more info. But, again, your help has been wonderful.
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Hello, I have started searching some of the Reeves County records trying to find more information. I have not found records for my husband’s grandfather. But I have found records for other family members however, not any of the direct lineage of the grandfather. But I was also re-reading the emails sent regarding the possible purchase of the mineral rights and I realize now the company specifically mentioned “the well traverses through NE4 of section 207”. You also mentioned NE4 in your first reply. Can you clarifiy what this means? My first thought would be that it is in reference to perhaps the “north east” quadrant of section 207. But when I look at the maps on the RR Commission website, I don’t see any wells in that section. Thanks again for your help.
It is indeed the NE quadrant of Section 207. When you look at the RRC viewer, look at the horizontal lateral wellbore which as a line running from the well surface location to the toe or terminus of the well as it runs through the NE/4 of Section 207. It is not just the circle where the well is drilled. The Clay Prewit C 5H is clearly running through the NE/4 of Section 207. However, for royalty purposes, the question is the “box” of acreage surrounding the horizontal wellbore which is pictured on the plat for the well permit. The plat for Clay Prewit B 3H has a box down the center of Section 207 and so part of that well is in the NE/4 of Section 207. The question is whether your minerals are a fraction of all of the NE/4 or only a fraction of one sub-tract within the NE/4 as that will determine whether you would participate in one or both wells. As to the deed records, look to see from whom the other family members acquired the minerals. Did they come through the common great-grandfather or great-grandmother and never got into his name? Or is it possible that a relative such as the grandfather’s aunt died without children and so the minerals passed to the children of her siblings - either through a will or through Texas intestacy law? It may also be that there was a larger tract owned by X which was carved up into the different branches of the family. For example, X owned an interest in all of NE/4 and left it in 4 pieces (NE/4 NE/4; NW/4 NW/4; etc) so different tracts will have different family ownership. Perhaps you can you contact another family member and ask about it.
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