Hi.
How do we know if a division order percentage is correct? Can an attorney help us or how should we go about making sure it is correct. Should we send paperwork to our attorney?
Any help would be appreciated
Sandy
do you know how many acres are in the drilling/spacing unit? usually it is 1,280 acres but if it is on a township line, it may be a few less than that.
many times the drilling/spacing unit is 2 adjoining sections, but there are a few different sized drilling/spacing units.
https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/ menu on the left side
look on the GIS map link and find your mineral rights.
click on section, put in your township, your range, your section. click on include buffer so that it will zoom in to your drilling/spacing unit. zoom to section.
then click on the right drilling/spacing unit. this will show black boundaries around your drilling/spacing unit.
note the name of your oilfield on the map. this oilfield will be inside the red boundaries on the map.
be aware that some of the mineral acres may be outside of your drilling spacing unit. the homesteads did not necessarily follow the section lines.
do you have the mineral deeds to your property? you can get the mineral deeds from the county land recorder, cost is a few dollars for each mineral deed.
if so, you can add the acres up that are in that drilling/spacing unit.
then you take the your net mineral acreage in that drilling/spacing unit and divide by the acreage in the drilling/spacing unit.
you can figure out the division order net mineral acreage yourself.
but you may want to hire an attorney to look over your lease before you sign or to tell you your options.
some leases are fairly straightforward and some have some non-standard terms, in favor of the oil producer or the lessee.
a division order is usually the result of a pooling matter.
you can call the department and ask them the case # for the pooling and the docket case (there will be 2 of them), ask for the exhibits in those cases to be sent by email. if you already know the docket case #s, you can look it up through the search function for the case # on the hearing docket link. there should be a docket case setting up the drilling/spacing unit and a docket case for the pooling case #.
decimal interest = (#acres you think you own/unit size (typically 1280)*Lease Rate