I received a DO yesterday from BCE-Mach LLC. From looking online the well reported production August -September 2024. The paperwork was dated November 2024. The mailing envelope was dated Jan. 10th. Received DO yesterday Jan. 14, 2025.
Last year I ask a landman if it was possible to sign a new lease. I was told we could not sign a new lease because the STR was held in production from a lease from 1944. I have not been able to locate the original lease.
Since this is now a horizontal well with property description of Sections 28 & 33-1S-4W. The question is, is it possible to secure a new lease? I have not signed the DO.
Are you in section 28 or section 33? Have you asked BCE-MACH for a copy of the old lease? They may or may not have it as some wells have been sold over time. It should be on file in the county courthouse in the paper files. The digital files do not always go back that far.
Many folks are held by production in this part of OK. The original lease was probably for 1/8th and held from the grassroots to the center of the earth. So as long as there was continuing production under the terms of the old lease, then many of us are held. If you are in sec 33, there is a very old waterflood field there.
Good news is that there are several of the Lone Ranger horizontal wells, so you will be getting more Division Orders! You do not have to sign the DO in OK. You can send your W-9 back and request payment and change the minimum amount to $25. I have posted a “letter in lieu of Division Order” on the forum.
No, its not possible to sign a new OGL after a well is drilled. Even if your minerals were open at the time, which sounds highly unlikely, you would have been assigned whatever the lease terms in the pooling were
If the original lease did not have a depth clause, then the well is likely held by production. That would prevent re-leasing.
Another example of why it is important to have a lease reviewed. In this case the lease is over 80 years old but the heirs are still stuck with the original terms.
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