WV Mineral Owner, Thanks so much for your research, but yes I spoke to Denver last fall and found this out but when I found the permit number to be for Tylor County I knew it was not the one I had in Doddridge County, I was excited to think it was started then let down after I found it was wrong county LOL ;o(
R W Kennedy, I understand what your saying, I had my attorney look into my mineral rights, to see how many acres I have, where, and % of per acre. He did a great job finding out what I inherited from my grandparents 14 years ago. but to get proof in writing it was going to cost 5 to 10k . So I understand information is money, that why I like to get and give as much FREE INFO as I can get and give!!!lol but sound like you have had a bad situation, That is why a forum like this is good to have to help others, to vent, to learn from, plus i do believe the gas n oil companies have someone ready this page. I would, thank Ryan
Happy to help, feel free to contact me directly if I an assist in any fashion.
Cheers
Mr. Hulse, in oil and gas information is at least as important as money. Oil and gas companies don’t want anyone to know anything about their business. All of them could be sued right this instant except it is so hard to get information and so expensive that nobody takes the plunge until they have the information. Oil companies sometimes drill property, produce a well until it goes dry and there may be a lot of owners who never even knew there was a well. The good faith effort to find them probably isn’t all it could be. I know this from experience.
RW,
Your comment on making a call short, truly made me laugh! If it is not prying, would you share which company / companies you have been involved in lawsuits with?
Ryan, I will say they are not from your area. I don’t own minerals in WV but I have friends who do and I comment on general questions anywhere.
Yes it is funny but I actually do ask if they mind if I record. I don’t bother to record but I ask anyway. It really does make for short phone calls.
RW, Sorry to hear your experiences with gas n oil companies, something Is not right if your going for suit to suit. sounds scary, I really can’t comment much further as I don’t know the Pacific’s of the suits. I hope things work out for ya. good luck respectfully: Ryan
R.W. good to here from you on here. So what you are saying is the oil companies tend to lie? I think they are at the bottom of the “truth” chain. With all the money they have sunk into this and prices being down, some more big time falsehoods are in the works. I know there are some who think they are being treated very well. Smooth talk makes that happen sometimes. When a lessor signs and they hear nothing from the company again, it makes one feel abandoned. Get used to it because that’s just their way of doing business. The fact is, you sign and if they drill, you will get a royalty check in say a couple years.
Ryan, I have had bad situations. Done with one lawsuit, in the middle of another and I see where one more is going to be necessary and possibly yet one more. It has taken years to get the information needed. I too like to share information. I will not keep any information confidential dealing with an oil company. If they want to record a memorandum, since I have not agreed to confidentiality, I would record the lease. They want to play poker and I would rather play chess with all pieces in view. The lie is the most profitable instrument in the oil and gas industry. If it isn’t on paper, notarized, it may hold up but that will be after litigation, so I prefer notarized and recorded documents. less likely to need court then.
If you are pressed for time when an O&G company calls you, you can make sure it is a short call by asking if they mind if you record it. Suddenly they don’t have much to say.
DT , Nice, you make the nightmare real, so answer me this why do they ever contact us and give vast amounts of money to screw us in the end, I have a thought, they need us to get the permits, once that happens that’s when they don’t know you any more. but be the squeaky wheel, pay attention, watch your tracts, be vocal, DT you make a great point in 1 to 2 years before you ever see a check, that’s my mistake that is in my leases,(by 1 year), that’s big , because a lot of # can be lost in a hole year, but I understand ,interest of using my money to pay me my money, I get that, just hope that for me and my families sake they remember us . LOL best of wishes Ryan
Ryan, they also need to lease a number of people to make it legal. Once they have a number of people leased, they get permission to drill and then payment becomes a CIVIL ISSUE. If they just set up and didn’t lease anyone, it would be mineral trespass and theft which would be criminal. Once it becomes a civil issue, they might never have to pay you again. The only way you can compel them to pay you is to sue them. This is where the secrecy dovetails in. You can’t sue until you have enough information. They can play for time and run your legal bills up. It would take a tenacious lawyer to stay after them for the number of years required. Plus they fight you with your own money. Even when the company loses, it means less profit from your acres, not that they lost money.
When these oil companies came calling, offering people thousands of dollars to lease, some folks became blind to all the specifics. Some people did not even know they had minerals and some saw this as quick cash. (you know, your relatives who could care less) There were so many people who were “easy pickins”, the oil companies were licking their chops. A lot of people did not get any language changes in their leases. Those people are paying for that now. Some sought legal advise and that helped some. The bottom line folks is this: The oil company will only give so much in money and language. You can refuse to sign and the company will file a partition suit and force you to spend money to defend what is already yours. They will just buy (rent) an acre from an already signed heir. Now, they own a piece of your interest and use that to force your hand. If you have a good piece of mineral property they will go to great links to obtain it. In the end they still won’t contact you. They only want that signature and then they need you no more…Hopefully all this will get better in the form of prices going up.
WV Mineral Owner, thanks a lot for the (probable) good news about Forced Pooling for this legislative session. I don’t trust them, so when it is really over, I can relax a little.
DT, good points about how the company likes to operate if they don’t get quick results.
Nancy,
Unique like many other things in WV, the legislative session will be called to a close, tomorrow night at midnight. (3/12/16)
Mineral County,
I do not have a case number, but believe the suit before the WV Supreme Court is Wycoff v. Bowyer. I am currently involved in a partition suit that has been put on hold, until the WVSC returns with a judgment.
Sorry I could not be of greater insight.
They can then plan for next year’s round of mischief, but without Woody Ireland!
DT,
Currently before the Supreme Court is a case involving partition suits and the manner in which production companies are pursuing the partition suits. It will be interesting to see how that case is resolved, if the Justices return judgment in favor of the mineral owners, that will greatly restrict the partition suits being filed.
Twenty seven hours before the end of the current legislative session and it looks as if the Forced Pooling Bill has been squashed. YAY!!! Thank you to everyone that took the time to call their Delegate and voiced their opinions.
The main chiefs were saying last week that they did not think forced pooling would fly. They were trying to gather a more attractive alternative but, I don’t think they were too eager to try anything. They went after the veto overrides so they could a least show their clout.
WV Mineral Owner, Do you have a case number for the case before Supreme Court? Is the case before WV Supreme Court or US Supreme Court?
Thanks for that link, DT. I can’t remember if I saw it already. I am familiar with the case. Good article. Hope the Supreme Court does the right thing!