Oil & gas discussion group for land and mineral rights in Colorado. Ask questions or share your experiences related to mineral and land rights in Colorado including law and legal questions, accounting and taxes, regulations, surface use issues, easements, and anything else affecting land and mineral rights in Colorado.
I look forward to the coming discussions. I'll kick off the discussion with a Forced pulling question in the forum above.
Forced pooling in a process available through the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) set forth in Rule 530 that essentially forces production on an unleased mineral interest. The public policy behind forced pooling is that minority interest(s) should not be able to forestall development or production. The forced pooling process begins with an operator filing an application with COGCC. From there, the mineral owner(s) with unleased acreage are provided notice of the application and subsequently have an opportunity to be heard at a COGCC administrative hearing. The subject of the hearing is whether an unleased owner has “failed or refused a reasonable offer to lease.” Such determination is made by consideration of the following factors as compared to other leases in the area:
(1) Date of lease and primary term or offer with acreage in lease;
(2) Annual rental per acre;
(3) Bonus payment or evidence of its non-availability;
(4) Mineral interest royalty; and
(5) Such other lease terms as may be relevant.
Forced pooling is typically a last resort for operators when they cannot come to terms on an oil and gas lease with a mineral owner.
DISCLAIMER: The information in this posting is for general information purposes only. This posting should not be substituted for legal advice and should not be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or reading this posting does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. You are encouraged to contact an attorney for legal advice concerning the information provided in this posting.
Hypothetically, if you are made a lease offer that is the low side but just within reason, and you make a counter offer that would be on the high side but could be considered within reason that the operator does not accept, what happens then ? After all you did not refuse to lease, just refused to accept less than you think it is worth. What would be the solution to such a situation ? I have heard the number thrown out that 85% of lessors execute the first lease offer they received. If this is so I would feel I was being penalized due to my neighbors poor to nonexistent bargaining skills.
Your observations are correct in that what your neighbors lease for would influence what COGCC finds to be reasonable. This also demonstrates the importance of involving your neighbors early on in the process and persuading them to negotiate along with you.
DISCLAIMER: The information in this posting is for general information purposes only. This posting should not be substituted for legal advice and should not be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or reading this posting does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. You are encouraged to contact an attorney for legal advice concerning the information provided in this posting.
I have found the results of the State Mineral auctions interesting and useful background info about who is leasing where, etc. To make it easier for me to analyze I complied all the auctions results from http://trustlands.state.co.us/Sections/Minerals/Pages/Auctions.aspx
into a single Excel spread sheet. I have attached it here for anyone to use. Colorado%20Mineral%20Auction%20results.xlsx or as a .pdf Colorado%20Mineral%20Auction%20results.pdf
Once the Feb. 2012 auction results are in I will add those and repost.
I think this may help with finding who leasing . I would go to COGCC GIS map page and open the maps to the County or township you are interested in and just check out who all the Operators are that have producing wells
.Also at COGCC website their is a link for approved permits and pending permits .There is a page for each county in the state of Colorado for both. These will be the guys that are leasing.
The BLM has a page for staked wells. all permits have to go to the BLM 6 months before they ever get to COGCC to be approved.
Finding this page is not as easy in Colorado as it is New Mexico it under planning and the page is titled NEPA LOGS, find your closes field office and start there in your search.
You can also check out who leasing by going to the state land office and see who leasing state land . this way is really good because you can see what the oil company's are paying per acre in your area if there's a sale in your county or township.
Does anybody know who is buying mineral leases in Cheyene and Lincon counties?
Click on the Colorado Oil & Gas Legal Discussion above to join the Legal Chat with Attorney Jenna Keller from 4-5 pm MST on July 30, 2012.
Our family member has mineral rights holdings in Bent County, CO. The Land & Mineral Company-Texas, LLC representative, Tyson Delay has made an offer to lease mineral interests for oil/gas exploration. Richard Hawpe, another agent, has written of his interest on behalf of Land & Mineral Co. No contacts have been signed.
No recent contact has emerged for many weeks. Do you know any details of the status of these offers? Are they a substantial firm? Do you know these representatives?
They seem to not be available via telephone and have not communicate effectively.
Hi all...I am just reaching out to see if anyone knows about the letter and legal documents that many received from UnitSource Inc. re: Wood Gulch Unit Area, As Expanded Moffat, Routt and Rio Blanco Counties, Colorado saying that SWEPI has engaged UnitSource to assist in the expansion of the exiting Wood Gulch Unit Area in which we own royalty interest on two leases - T4N-R90W Sec 19: Lot 1 and T4N-R90W Sec 29 W/2NE4, SE/FnW/4. They want us to elect to commit our royalty interest to the proposed expansion of the Wood Gulch Unit Agreement. Is this something that I should do and sign or should I contact a lawyer. I am unfamiliar with all this as these leases were handed down. I am not sure if this is just a contact to grant exploration or if I sign I am giving up my rights. There are a lot of other people on the list that were given. Any information would be greatly appreciated before I spend the money to heir an attorney. Thank you again for any information.
Any activity in Prowers County?
Does any one know anything about Laramie Energy? we have min. in Mesa County UNDER this they asking the OGCCOC to change spacing and drilling rule to allow one well per 10 acers in TS9S Range 94W 6th P.M. for lots 1,2,3 total of 323.72 with part being under BML land they are using something called Rule 530 ) they plan on drilling 18 wells named Bruton 19-01w thru Bruton19-16w and 5 Bruton Federal 19-06E, 07E,08E,09E,AND 10E . If THIS IS ALLOWED HOW LONG DO THEY HAVE TO DRILL THESE WELLS.
It should say under lease after Mesa County and they are asking
I am new to this forum. Does anybody have experience with Noble energy or Martin Exploration? I am interested in leasing my mineral rights and have been approached by several "middle men" that I think are flippers and was hoping to contact the landman directly for the appropriate companies drilling in my area. Thanks for any advice. Kerri