Just checking but I thought the pooling bit was defeated in the legislature? Am I wrong. Mary Lee S
DT, That would be a big fat Ditto from me, I think some people need to sign out & go to the Dr, Phil web-site!!! Don’t lose sight of what this site is supposed to do? It is to Help one another I thought!
Several years ago, just as Horizontal wells were making it’s way into Doddridge County, I signed two leases, one with EQT and the other with Jay-bee oil. Now with the target on bonus, and terms & conditions and % being in the early stages and a poor ole boy from the up the hollow as some people on this forum call us I was overwhelmed with what to do, but eventually after reading this and other forums AND contacting other interest owners in the same plots, I signed theses leases. Now if I had a whole lot of Money, which I didn’t, I could have gone to an Attorney or I could have put these leases on my desk and waited for a better deal, Which now would be possible." Speaking of my case only", I am glad that I signed, as when the royalty came in, I not only paid off my mortgage, but purchased stock in both EQT and Antero. 2-years ago EQT stock was going for around $45.00 a share, this morning it’s $103 plus,. and Antero is up 20.72 %. So the bottom line with this poor ole boy from up the hollow, signing those leases have made my financial status a whole better.
Mr. Stuart, you must have got some good wells, not everyone does. I won’t bore everyone with how I bought gold at $183 an ounce in 1977 and watched it go through the roof. You probably could have made more money investing in pipelines. I also never assume that just because things turned out ok for me that they would have for anyone. Investing involves risk, and the companies you invested in could have pulled a Chesapeake and tanked. The didn’t. For your sake I’m glad they didn’t but not everyone is in the market or wants to be. Why endure yet more risk when you should be paid sufficiently in the first place?
Mike, I agree with you. Many lawyers will wait until you get your bonus also.
Dawn, if I understand you correctly, the old lease is with one company which pays you a little for one or more shallow wells. The new company wants do drill deeper wells and must have some agreement with the older company. The new company needs a lease modification, probably to increase the pooling unit acreage. I think it is true that the original lease is binding between you and the old company but I also think that a lease modification, between you and the new company, can include changes besides the pooling acreage. We were approached by a different company under the same circumstances, wanting an increase in unit size. They offered some money and were talking about some lease modifications which they originally said were not possible (same reason as yours) but later were thinking about. Eventually they decided, for some technical reasons, that our original lease gave them enough acreage for the units and stopped the process.
Of course it is always best to have an attorney review any paperwork which a company wants you to sign.
With 100 acres, you should have a little more bargaining power than for a smaller acreage.
If there is some mutual agreement between the companies, Old company might grant New company the rights to drill wells in the deeper layer, and Old company gets a certain % of the well revenue. Then New company wants to keep as much of the rest of the revenue as possible, and any extra they give you as a royalty increase, is a reduction of their remaining % because the Old company’s lease with you means that Old company is not going to give up any more to you, so New company must be the one to do it.
Hope that makes sense, and of course your situation might not be what ours was.
DT, I said the same thing a few post ago, Let’s bury the hatchet and move on. We all need CONSTRUCTIVE HELP on this forum, not bashing, as we all have different views.
Mr. Stuart, you obviously weren’t paying attention. I have never lost a dime in an investment and made a quite a bit. It was by signing LEASES with oil companies who did not do as they promised in writing so I have had to sue them to enforce the contract that has caused me to spend out of pocket, a point which other people considering leasing would do well to remember, that an oil companies written word is only as good as your resolve and lawyer make it.
Good luck to you all.
I’m not real sure why you guys think a lawyer is so expensive. My family an I paid $600. An that’s a steal for how valuable the wording is in a lease.
Mr. Kennedy, by now we are boring people with our feeling’s on the Gas/ Oil companies. I am sorry that you have had so many disappointment with your investments, and glad to hear that your other ventures have paid off well. You are right Life is a gamble, win some, lose some. Following the stock market has been an experience as well, and when Antero Resources went public a few months ago, I brought, they are doing well in West Virginia for a new Company since 2002, and I have faith. Some of their numbers look good for there is rich gas in a lot of areas in Doddridge, Tyler etc. I have signed 18 leases with them, and 10 have been permitted. If nothing else the bonus money was nice. Please find below the latest from Antero Corp Analysis notes:
Antero Resources Corporation Analyst Notes
On February 26, 2014, Antero Resources Corporation (Antero Resources) reported its financial results for Q4 2013 and full year 2013. Non-GAAP total operating revenue increased 104.2% YoY to $480.0 million in Q4 2013, and 78.5% YoY to $1.3 billion in full year 2013. The Company reported non-GAAP net income of $73.2 million in Q4 2013, up 111.2% YoY, while full-year 2013 non-GAAP net income came in at $171.4 million, up 214.8% YoY. Chairman and CEO of Antero Resources, Paul M. Rady, said, “2013 was a historic year for Antero as we took the Company public in the largest U.S. independent E&P IPO in history. We also grew our fully engineered and audited 3P reserves by 62% to 35.0 Tcfe and average net daily production by 115% to 678 MMcfe/d. All of this was accomplished with peer group leading 3-year development costs per Mcfe, 2013 average price realizations and EBITDAX margin. Since our IPO inOctober 2013, we have continued to set the stage for our high growth business model by committing to additional firm transportation and processing, hedging prices on additional natural gas volumes and expanding our liquids-rich acreage position in the Marcellus and Utica Shales.” The full analyst notes on Antero Resources Corporation are available.
Stephanie, there are some constants in oil and gas and a sprinkling of things that are state specific that people need to be aware of. You can learn much from what occurs in other states. I have heard people talk of getting a lawyer close to their out of state minerals to negotiate for them and I suggested that a good oil and gas lease does not depend on the lawyers proximity to the minerals. There is just no substitute for being able to walk into a lawyers office to discuss terms.
Somehow, I signed up for a newsletter that primarily focuses on O&G mineral rights in TX, OK, etc, but sometimes it has an article that catches my eye. The latest issue had a link to a discussion about what makes a good lease. One of the people posted a link to a pdf called “Christine’s Lease”. It got a nod of approval from one of the other people on there that really knows a lot about these things. He said it was a good lease if you are not a surface owner. The lease is for someone in CA, but I think a lot of it is useful for anyone. Here is the link to the lease: https://www.hightail.com/dl?phi_action=app/orchestrateDownload&… . If you are interested in reading the discussion, here it is: http://www.mineralrightsforum.com/forum/topics/mandatory-lease-lang… . It’s in the same forum we are already in, but in a place I don’t normally read anymore.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – West Virginia natural gas will be used at the proposed cracker plant in Wood County. Antero Resources made the announcement Wednesday.
The company has signed an agreement to become an ethane supplier for the Ascent petrochemical complex in Washington, West Virginia. Antero intends to provide 30,000 barrels of ethane per day to the project headed up by Odebrecht and Braskem
http://wvmetronews.com/2014/03/26/antero-resources-makes-major-natu…
As to comments about having a lawyer as being important, I must take the word of the land man. There are no o/g lawyers in the megapolis that is Northern Virginia where I now reside. I cannot spend months in West Union, my hometown working with local o/g lawyers even if I could afford to do which I can’t. So I have no choice but to put my hope and trust in Antero and my land man.
where is the comment I just made a few minutes ago?
Ms. Mary Lee, please negotiate for bonus and royalty percent. After that is negotiated be sure to ask for an indemnification clause, no warranty of title, and a depth of severance clause. They should give you those without question, and those are things that will protect you. I didn’t use a lawyer, either, but I had those added to our lease after advice given on this website by an O&G lawyer in WV.
Sure thing, I am very grateful to those who have helped me!
Stephanie
Imagine getting a knock at your door and finding a man who says that if you let him wander around your house and take whatever he wants, he promises you will get some money one day. He says to trust him because he has his own lawyer to advise him how he does it. Would you let him in or sign whatever he handed to you? You see, you ARE using a lawyer when you sign with an oil company–you are just using someone else’s lawyer, a lawyer who is paid to make sure someone else gets all the money and protection that should rightfully belong to you. You are free to sign anything you want and to hand them anything you want. But there is no one at Antero and no land man being paid to protect you or to make sure you get fair market value for the results of what will be done to or below your land. Just sayin’.
Mary Lee, Stephanie has some good suggestions and Jnk is quite right about their lawyer being on the job. I use Kyle Nuttall of this forum and have written that before I think. He was a landman for a few years so he knows how they work. He lives in northern WV and I live out of state so we do our communicating by email and phone. I would enjoy meeting him someday but don’t feel it necessary to do the lease reviews. He works with Antero leases as well as other companies so he knows what sorts of things they will agree to etc. Other attornies have been mentioned who also sound very good. Many lawyers will talk with potential clients for free before getting to the point of needing to charge. I hope you will consider talking with a WV attorney. If you are talking about title work of course it would need to be someone with access to the courthouse but not necessarily someone living in Doddridge county. Some attornies have paralegals or landmen hired to go to nearby courthouses to check records.
Mary, I know of a good Attorney in Salem WV, right next door to all the action going on by Antero, Her rate is within reason, and I am sure that she will do a good job for you. She is a female and I am sure that you will be comfortable working with her. Her name is Cynthia Loomis, and her Telephone # is 304 873-4350.