Recently I was approached about leasing in Section 25-8N-4W McClain County, OK. I know that Native Exploration has applied for a multiunit horizontal well in this S-T-R. Because my NMA are small, I was going to wait and be pooled, but I was talked into a lease negotiation. However, once I sent them my Exhibit A, I never heard back from them. This has happened a few times. Because I prefer not to waste my time, I always tell the landsmen up front that I prefer to lease with an Exhibit A, but they still do this. Does anybody know why this happens? Do these lease brokers really expect royalty owners to sign these company leases with no changes? It reinforces for me that I’m better off being pooled.
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Sometimes, many times, the landman is seeking to secure a lease and then flip it to a potential buyer. They enter into a conversation with you, and then, perhaps, they can’t find anybody to flip it to, so they just drop it. Not uncommon, unfortunately. I’ve also had conversations where the landman says, we’re interested no matter how small it is, and then they come back and say, we’re not interested because its too small. An alternative to being pooled is leasing with the applicant to the pooling.
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Are you sure you’re actually open to lease in this section? My interest in 25-8N-4W is HBP by the Ramona Joyce and it’s 80 acre spacing, unfortunately. Even though only a small part of my interest in that section is included in the well. I’ve also been ghosted a number of times lately when it comes to other small interests. I’m guessing they don’t know the size of the interest when they first contact you and then they decide it’s not worth the trouble when they find out. Or in your current situation they may have decided you’re HBP.
Continental has also applied for a well and pooling in 25 & 36-8N-4W. However there seems to be a lot of protesting going on at the moment.
Yes, I’m sure. My interests are in Section 25-8N-4W SE4/SE4. I don’t receive any royalties on this section and I checked the county records to see if there is an old lease from when my grandmother’s trust owned the property, but there is none.
Thank you for explaining this. I suspect it’s because the NMA are small. Better to sign a lease with the applicants to the pooling.
This is not unusual for a company to lose interest.
This is the first time, and probably the last time, that I used an emoji on this site.
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Looks like Native and Continental are competing for operations. I hope for your sake Continental gets to drill and operate the unit. Lease agreements with special provisions often provide the mineral owner better protection of their royalty, but the applicant operator is most often not the most competitive with their terms being offered. Non-operators will always pay more than the applicant operator in order to gain position and be afforded the right to participate in the well if its in a good area. Just throwing out more than one way of looking at it. Good luck, I own several tracts in this area and this should be a nice well once it gets drilled.
Welcome to the forum and thanks for your questions 
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