Again, thank you AJ for your help. I don’t have a lawyer but may be something needed (what a dilemma). Is there any kind of ‘Statute of Limitations’ on wrongly assigned royalties?
Bertha, there is a substantial list of unclaimed assets under the state unclaimed property website with your name. Not sure if they are you but I would check there first.
many of which are royalties
Meant to say a historical mineral rights ownership search?
Thank you much, Joshua!
Bertha, You might also phone an abstract company and see if you could get help through abstract office or a landman referral. Midland Map Company has ownership and lease maps. They might make you a map of your section(s) of interest for much less than a full county map.
No worries, Hope you get it all sorted out
Can anyone recommend an independent land man in or around Seminole, TX? Also, what would be a fair charge to do a historical mineral rights ownership deed for one section/abstract?
They typically charge by the hour, and it all depends on how hard/easy to track minerals at county court house
I truly am overwhelmed by the people on this site who are so helpful to neophytes like myself. THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
http://gainescountyabstract.com/ Looks as though they have the most comprehensive data on Gaines County
We’ve been approached by a landman to lease our minerals at: Labor 4,5&6, League 303, Dawson County School Lands, Gains County, 531.36 acres. But he’s only offering a 3/16th royalty and a $200 bonus. It was previously under lease with a very old well, but that producer sold off the equipment and retrieved much of the old casing pipe. The landman is telling us that the depressed price of oil doesn’t allow for better terms than that at the present time. Has anybody been able to get better terms recently?
I will go ahead and note that he represents that he is acting as an agent for a company. I think the previous lease provided a 1/4 royalty.
James and bj2, I am glad it is working out for you. James, some time ago I held out while a relative signed a slightly undesirable lease because he wanted the bonus money. The “casino closed” and I got no bonus money. That hurt and still haunts me. The link I shared is an audio interview. I would argue that bj2 received a better initial lease offer than you at least regarding the royalty.
Want to thank J. Tyler and would totally be appreciative for any info you may have.
Mr. Noble, Leases with better terms have been signed recently in Gaines county. I think you should attempt to determine if the landman is contacting you as a result of your earlier post/advertisement and speculating, or is the landman acting as an agent for a company which is independently interested? At least you are getting to play the negotiation game–so congratulations and good luck. Have you looked at the RRC’s map viewer? http://wwwgisp.rrc.state.tx.us/GISViewer2/ If you go to the magnifying glass icon at the top of the page and select “surveys” from the drop down menu and enter dawson in the “survey name” section and click “query” your area of interest will likely appear. I do not know how to enter labor 4,5, or 6 in the map viewer. Another icon–the blue “I” circumscribed by a blue circle–at the top of the map viewer will allow you to identify wells with the cursor and a click. I rather doubt the landman is initially offering what he feels your minerals are really worth to him or the oil company. Did he say if he is representing an oil company? What were the terms of Ms. Ryan’s most recent lease of the minerals in play? Are you familiar with a “favored nations” clause? Here’s a labor 14 Dawson lease notice http://www.seminolesentinel.com/Content/Default/Archive/Article/Gai…
Thanks so much! That’s very informative and encouraging. I’ll look at the links you provided and continue to better educate myself on the subject. I very, very much appreciate your prompt, thourough and informative comment.
You are welcome. Did the map viewer produce a correct representation of an area containing your minerals using only “dawson” in the survey name. If so, I think Three Rivers sold its Foster interests to Oxy. It looks like Texland has a producing well in 303. If your family and Ms. Ryan can stick together, you will have much more leverage. In my humble opinion, you might also think about getting an attorney with oil and gas experience to approve any lease you sign. Forgive the casino analogy, but you have lot of variables and unknowns to factor to know how to better play your hand while making sure the House does not close. This is an interesting interview: http://www.capleroyalty.com/capleroyaltyinterview.mp3 I have no financial interest in the company.
On Jun 10 AJ you said, "
AJ Great advice. We’ve actually had an attorney review the agreement the landman sent us and he revised it dramatically. One of the 4 interest owners didn’t want to risk having the land man lose interest, so he signed the lease the land man sent him. I believe the remaining 3 owners will stick together. I look forward to reading the interview.