This topic, titled Dewey County OK - General Discussion, is established here on the new MRF to serve as the continuation of what some of our legacy users became accustomed to - that of posting to what is sometimes called a “wall”. From June 1, 2018, this topic is the continuation of Dewey County, OK - Oil & Gas Discussion archives (which is now closed to new posts).
In other words, this topic is intended for those who simply want to post in running dialogue fashion, about activity within this particular geographical area. Comments here should be constrained to topics and issues related to this specific area.
I am new to this - so forgive me if I am posting in the wrong section. My husband and his brother have oil and gas rights in Dewey county that Tapstone have been leasing for the past 3 years. They wish to renew for another 2 years at the same bonus amount they gave them 3 years ago. We don’t know what leases have been going for and don’t know where to look. Any help with where to go for the information would be appreciated. Thanks
You have to find your original lease and see if that is allowed by the lease. You may have had the “option to renew” in it. If you can’t find it, look on www.okcountryrecords.com. You can download it and print it for a small fee.
If the original lease did not have an option to renew, then you can lease with anyone. You would need to give the section, township and range for me to help with lease amounts. I know that my recent Dewey County lease offers were substantially higher than two years ago.
Total newbie to this forum, so I hope I’m posting in the right area/topic.
Recently received an offer for $300 lease bonus and 3/16th royalty for a Top Lease in
NE/4 SE/4 &W/2 SE/4 SW/4 Sec 32 17N 20W
Craig1-32 Well and Marvin Quattlebaum 1H Well
I am interested in finding out more about this and if the lease bonus is fair.
Any help appreciated.
My personal opinion here, but not a fan of top leases. A top lease is when one company wants to have a second lease begin immediately after a first lease expires. Usually it involves going to court to get a poorly performing well shut in due to non-economic performance. More recently, it has been for old vertical wells to get condemned in order for new horizontal drilling to begin. All old leases are cancelled and new leasing can begin. In most cases, you do not get the full bonus amount until after the court case is finished. On the one hand you do have money in your hand-even if a little bit. If they fail, then you have some money, but at what consequences. Is the amount they are offering a competitive amount? I prefer to let the first lease expire even if it takes a while longer and then lease at competitive rates and avoid any legal issues.
I am attaching a more eloquent explanation of the issues. An Overview of Recurring and Related Issues Involving Top Leasing.pdf (210.2 KB)
Try okcountyrecords.com first. They have Dewey county. The digital records only go back so far, so if not there, then contact the county clerk and ask for help.
This gets more interesting. I called the county clerk to ask about the lease, and the only one she could find dates back to 1976 signed by my mother. It has changed hands several times. I also checked on OCCEWEB and couldn’t find any wells in that section mentioned. Do I need a land man to trace thru the history?
http://imaging.occeweb.com/OG/Well%20Records/030C0F28.pdf
Craig 1-32 was sold to Apex Inc.
It has been sold quite a few times. You can see the trails of sales on the OCC well record website. Type 2117N20W in the legal location box. I gave you the link above for the most recent one.
You can also see the Quattelbaum 32-17-201H well there as well. Since the well was drilled in 1979, your mother’s lease is the one that is holding it as well as the Craig 1-32. You can get a copy from the clerk for a small fee.
Thank you for that PDF. I am a bit confused on what information I need in order to check on production for a well and where to go on occeweb site. I have an active lease in Grady County I would like to see the production information.
If you have a vertical well, look up by the surface location by section, township and range. Use leading zero where needed. If horizontal, sometimes you need to look up by the bottom hole location.
You can often see where a new well is considered “active”. That is usually the date of first sales even if they are not posted yet. They are quite often about four-five months behind. The operator is supposed to pay you buy six months after first sales or they owe you interest under Sec 52. Sometimes, there is a bit of a gap due to the day they cut their checks. You usually get the Division Order about five months after first sales. Sometimes, they go on line immediately after completion and sometimes there is a delay.
Apparently this was the case that they had the option to renew for 2 years. Just so we are prepared ahead of time for when this is up - how can we find out what leases are going for? Is there a marketplace where one can see buyers and sellers and recent prices paid? With commodities you can see the latest price - or real estate - or the obvious one stocks. So I am thinking there must be a place where one can see what is going on in an area with leases?
What are pooling orders? It is strange that if so many folks have these rights that there isn’t an easy way to see what the current prices are. Seems like someone would have figured out a way to provide that information as it would benefit -I would think -both parties.
Pooling happens when an operator(s) cannot get all of the owners to agree to lease either because they cannot agree to terms or cannot be found. The Ok Corp Commission has set up rules which allow an operator to go to court to pool the remaining lease holders after a majority have been leased. The company has to petition the court and tell them the amounts that have been offered in the nine section area centered on the section in question and telling which zones they plan to drill. The court then gives the unleased owners several options of bonus and royalties which are relevant to the area. You have about 20 days to decide what option to take. If you do not decide, then the highest bonus and lowest royalty are chosen for you. Most of us chose the highest royalty and the lowest bonus. If they cannot find an owner, the money is held by the operator for three years and then turned over to the state to unclaimed funds. The company then has 180 or 365 days to drill the well to the proposed zone(s). If the well is productive, same thing. Royalties are held for the “lost” owners for them to claim. A vertical or horizontal well can be pooled. If the well is dry, then the acreage is available for leasing again.
Bonus amounts are private and competitive. The only ones that are public are the pooling orders. Each mineral owner negotiates their own private lease. The leases are filed at the county courthouse, but the bonus amount is not listed on the lease. There are millions of mineral owners, so no way to capture that data since it is not required. Over the years, there have been various places that attempted to list the bonus amounts, but I always found them to be way too generic and usually not close to what I was offered. At the moment, this site seems to be the best place where folks voluntarily share.