Just came back from a surreal meeting with a land man fromTexas. He said he is in our neck of the woods (Northern California) to talk to clusters of surface owners on our block and making offers to buy it. He works for Antelope/Capitan Production. He has been pursuing us via mail/phone in the last few months but we were shocked to see him in our front door with cashier’s checks on hand! Please, please, anyone out there, kindly let me know if $700/ac is a reasonable offer for 9.24 acres in NE quarter of section 2, block 112, public school lands, Culberson County. He was a very soft spoken person but he did say that if this Craig somebody is done and over with this section, he will move on and pretty much we’ve missed out. He gave us 30 days to respond but he is only here for another day or two. Please, anyone, any information on this area is well appreciated. Thank you in advance!
After checking the GIS mapping system I find several producing very good gas wells in the area of Section. One of those gas wells is in Section 2 and is a fantastic gas well(API 109-32874)These gas wells in this area also produce lots of condensate.
This link is to production data on well 109-32874.
If this 9.24 acres were mine I would take no less than $20,000 per acre. Some of the producers/operators in this area are Capitan Energy, PDC Permian and BHP Billiton.
GIS Map of Culberson County Section 2/Block 112/A-1570 and surrounding area:
Do not buy into these high pressure tactics. Do you know where your surface is located within the NE/4 (if you own 100% of the 9 acres) or is your surface interest undivided within the NE/4? No operator will approach you about purchasing the surface unless it has a very particular interest in using the surface - such as for a well pad or a collection facility. With only surface rights, you do not own or share in the royalties. However, if a well pad is located on your surface, the UT Land Rate & Damage Schedule lists $20,800 damages for 250,000 sf which is about $3,600 per acre. Capitan operates wells in Section 2 and related companies own a lot of the surface in the area. They are not going away unless they sell everything. Ask the landman to provide a plat of all the currently permitted or operating wells and surface use, including pipelines and other ROW in Section 2. Ask him to provide in writing a letter including any and all statements that he is making about Capitan, including the statement that Capitan is leaving the area and why. I doubt that you will get this. Take your time to find out more about the surface activities. Maybe a pipeline or electric line is planned under your surface.
Here is link to new Rate & Damage Schedule
Thank you all for your swift replies. All I know is that my surface rights are on NE 1/4 of section 2, block 112. I guess on or adjacent to JS Blair 2 #1 H well? Not sure if this makes sense. The Landman was nothing short of charming and he was quite firm that his client is moving along this area and if we miss this opportunity, then he doesn’t when the next one will be. Which made us more leary but peaked our interest.
He did tell us when we were leaving that it will be ok to do a counter offer so that his boss knows that he is “doing his job”. Which is why I came here. All of 9.24 acres are undivided and just the surface right. He said something about a few of my neighbors and my lot is landlocked so it will be hard for another company to obtain right of way as his employer already has right of way around this area. He had a very convincing explanation as to why they needed our land surface but it was our inexperience with the topic that it all sounded gibberish to us.
