Members I need input. EOG continues to only want to lease parts of my land... and the bonus is smaller than offered last year. I assume I have a favorable spot for drilling. How do I play this so that I get the most out of them? Their current offer is $300.00 an acre, 3 year, 1/5th.
greg, it is very important to me to get a 1/4 cost free royalty on any lease i enter. For me, i think it is important to determine when they will drill and where exactly th intend to drill. I think you could get cut out if you dont lease and they pool around you.
You do not state how many gross acres are involved or how many net acres you control.
Can you tell how much they have leased by what memorandums of leases have been recorded in Montague County? If you have a rather small share and the rest is leased, it might be easier to get what you want.
There are many ways to negotiate the economics. First and foremost i would think you would want as much acreage to which you have ownership to be included. This might run counter to their request to only include part of your acreage. I should know but do not know what formations and what depths they might be targeting. I always hear about the Barnett Shale but if their are others you might limit depths and retain the right to lease to other companies for other formations.
I recently entered into a deal in south texas whereby i was disappointed in the new bonus so i reduced the term to 18 months and limited the depths and reatined right to lease other formations.
In another county, we had a 400 acre tract and the oil company wad only wanting to lease 50 acres. They then had language that said something like “any adjoining acreage is included.” My professionals said that the clause would not apply to the other 350 acres but i am not sure i agree. In the end we agreed to lease all 400 gross acres and so the bonus was 8x before negotiating up the price per acre.
Good luck and i would welcome hearing what you ultimately get.