My family inherited mineral rights in Woodward County Sec22-T22-R19W, Lots 2,9 & 10 from my father, Richard Oliver. I have received a lease offer but there is a discrepancy in the net mineral acres. I see in my father records an old lease for 14+ nma but the current company is saying they only see 6+ nma. How do I find the nma for the deed? I believe my grandfather, Floyd purchased these in the 1920’s and they then passéd to Lela Oliver. Thanks for any help. Karen
Hi, Karen -
You would have to study the title to the interests all the way back to sovereignty (Patent or Land Grant) to determine what you presently own. That is what Landmen do before leasing your interests and possibly a second time, with greater detail, before the company drills a Well.
It can be an expensive endeavor, however. Sometimes very expensive. The least expensive way for you to obtain that sort of information is to include the following provision or one similar to it in your lease:
It is agreed and understood that Lessee shall furnish Lessor, within a reasonable time following receipt of a written request from Lessor, at Lessee’s expense, with copies of all Landsman’s Title Run Sheets, Abstracts of Title, Title Certificates, Drilling Title Opinions, and/or Division Order Title Opinions together with any supplements to same covering all or any part of said land, whether compiled or obtained by Lessee.
That way, you get the entire history of your interests for free.
Hope this helps -
Charles Emery Tooke III
Certified Professional Landman
Fort Worth, Texas
I, too, have received an offer for leasing fewer acres than my court documents and past leasing shows: I show I own 31+ acres and the offer is for 20 acres in 24-20-22. Our records show my cousin has an additional 15+ acres and the offer she received was to lease 10 acres. The landman said this would be corrected when audited by the company and we would receive full payment for the correct number of acres. This is the first time this has occurred in my leasing history. Could someone tell me if this is common practice and the approach I should take on this lease?
Hi, Russell -
No, it is not common practice. And in my opinion the difference between 31+ acres and 20 acres is too large to just be accidental.
The Landman should have accurately determined the title to your interests before contacting you. If he or she is not capable of doing so, you should request that either his supervisor or the company Landman contact you to discuss the situation.
If they are not willing to so, then I suggest you call the Oil and Gas Company and ask to speak to the Vice President of Land.
You and Karen both can request copies of the Landman's Title Runsheet or Title Notes and copies of the pertinent documents that they are basing their calculations on. Certainly they should be willing to provide those things to you.
And you should both also consider taking your leases to an experienced Oil and Gas Attorney to review.
Charles
Thank you, Charles, for the information.
Charles, Thank you for your advice. I am in California trying to figure this out. Do you have any recommendations of experienced Oil & Gas attorney for review? How much does this usually cost?
Thanks again!
Karen
Karen -
I just spoke with Loren (Larry) Nauss, an Attorney friend of mine with the law firm of Jones Gill in Houston, TX. He said that they have an Attorney that is licensed in Oklahoma, a woman named Jessica Crawford, but that she is not in the office today and might not be in tomorrow.
Loren gave me permission to pass his contact information along, however, which I have below.
I have no idea how much it will cost, but whatever it is will be worth the peace of mind. Protecting your rights should be a priority. Once you've signed a lease you are stuck with the terms of it.
L.R. “Larry” Nauss
Jones Gill LLP
Attorneys at Law
6363 Woodway
Suite 1100
Houston, Texas 77057
713.652.4068 (office)
713.652.4078 (fax)
281.796.7057 (cell)
Hope this helps -
Charles
PS: This is not a solicitation. I do not stand to receive any compensation for recommending anyone. Thought I should mention it.
Thank you!
You're welcome. There are also very qualified Attorneys that respond to questions on The Forum who may also be able to help. I just checked with Loren and they have an Oklahoma Attorney.
If you or Ms. Crawford need a few suggestions as to clauses or provisions to add to your lease, I have a few I can suggest.
Charles,
I would love to have any clause or provision suggestions you are willing to share.
Thanks, Karen
Do you own the surface or just undivided mineral interests?
Nice write up, Buddy!
Buddy, thank you for taking your time and providing this valuable information.
Russ
Just the minerals
I couldn't find another "Reply" button, so I'm sending an example lease here.
The attached was sent to me by another woman that contacted me through The Forum, Christine Donahue. I'm sure she won't mind my sharing it with you.
The company's Landman is going to faint when he get it, but Christine got hers and it was for only 0.638 net acres!
And please don't tell the Landman where you got it. I've still got to try and make a living in this industry!
And call an Attorney!
1003-ChristinesLease.pdf (3.81 MB)important to remember that acreage listed on Leases is only Gross not actually net ownership. So the old lease will only be referring to the total gross acreage for the tracts listed on the Lease.
The actual ownership can be an "undivided portion" of the entire tract like %50 or whatever. Historically portions of the Tract mineral ownership could have been conveyed out. That would not change the acreage listed on the lease.
Also you want to verify that all of the tracts line up the same. The spacing of units means that sometimes all of the tracts could be needed for a well. Depending on location, and spacing they a new O&G company could only need a part of the acreage because they are only drilling a smaller well ( not requiring all of the acreage)
ALSO other posters are correct, to identify net ownership of minerals you have to do title research. Ownership of minerals is not like surface. No one keeps a running total for you anywhere. It is up to you to identify your ownership if you want to know and don't want to take the companies word for it. O&G companies pay for someone to "Run Title".
BUT having someone run title is expensive. AND companies are required to submit something called a Drill Site Title Opinion. DSTO that is signed off on by a Lawyer before they can sell Hydro Carbons from a Well.
You can always outline on the Lease that:
"....it is the intent of Lessee to lease 20 net mineral acres in the following tract..."
If you don't it is "assumed" that they are leasing ALL the acreage that you have in that tract, so if they pay you for less acreage and you haven't identified the acreage specifically it is a done deal, UNLESS you prove differently - which can be costly.
So if you add that the intent is to only Lease a certain amount of acreage and the Title opinion comes back with additional acreage they have to address it specifically because by your previous lease they will have only leased the acreage that was initially claimed
Ben, thank you for your very beneficial reply.
I spoke with the landman and he said they would run title after the agreements were made as it is too expensive to run title beforehand. He said the lease would be written as "acreage ownership to be determined". Does this sound feasible?
well the cost of title does not change with or without a lease. They just don't want to run title on an interests that they don't end up getting.
what legal are they going to use? Ask them to lease your specific tract and not just the whole section .
I would offer to provide him with a COPY of the signed lease to get them started on title. Then once the title is done if any changes need to be made they can be.
If you send that original lease back they will likely file it before they pay you.