I am very new to this, but my family (in-laws) has received an offer to purchase mineral rights to a few acres of Section 16 3N 4W. Where do I even begin to understand what we have and what the potential is of the rights.
How does one go about looking into leases and royalties etc?
I'm sure I will have more questions, but just trying to educate myself quickly here.
Best to you all,
Keith
Search the internet for "Oklahoma Royalty Owners Handbook" which is published by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. You can download the pdf and get some good background information.
I would not sell any minerals in 3N-4W. Multiple well possibilities. Read the Q3, Q4 2016 and early 2017 investor presentations for Continental Resources, Newfield, Marathon and others to get a feel for the area. You are in the SCOOP area.
Read the Mineral Help tab above and read the Blog offerings.
Hi Keith,
Welcome to the Rodeo! I too am relatively new having inherited multiple leases in TX and OK in the last 1.5 years. I was given a great read, sort of a 101 on Gas and Oil Lease things to know, all the terms etc. that is a great place to start. It's by a Mr. John B. McFarland. You don't clearly state if the offer is to lease or buy and it looks like a buy out. I would never sell unless you have only a small amount and really don't want to be bothered. So I agree with Mr. Barnes and Mr. Weeks. Read up before you make any decision. Time is on your side and don't be rushed. There's always another offer.
My second bit of advice if you do lease is hire a professional for your first few negotiations. Looking back on a couple of new leases we did early on they could have been a lot more in our favor and it's not all about the money but how you get compensated over the term of the lease. You could get a great bonus and $ for acres if and when producing only to see it chipped away for all the processing fees etc. Mind you that leases are for a fair length of time and you want that lease paying every dime you can.
I became friends with an attorney through my discussions on some properties in one of the other groups and we developed a rapport and he has become a teacher/ mentor of this industry to me. I appreciate how great everyone has been in the groups and on this site. I would recommend you find someone like that or I will be happy to send in a private email his contact.
Good luck!
503-OilGasLeaseChecklist.pdf (74.2 KB)DO NOT SALE !! There is one Woodford well that is about two years old. They have the paper work for nine more. They are drilling two of them now and plan on adding another rig. They have a Pooling Order for a Springer formation well in 16 also.
Thank you all for the info so far. I am reading all I can find.
Where do lease offers typically come from? Do you wait until hopefully a company wants to drill on your acreage and they contact you?
Dear Mr Awad,
Sections 9 and 16 have already been pooled by Newfield back in mid December of 2016. Newfield is preparing to drill nine new wells across that two sections. The pooling order is 659309.
If you inherited the minerals recently and there is a producing well, you will not get any lease offers since it is already leased and the minerals are now in the secondary production time frame of the earlier lease. You need to make sure you are getting the revenue from the current well. You will have to inform the current company of the inheritance change, provide the correct paperwork and sit back and collect the royalties. You need to track down the deed, the lease, the division orders, etc. from the person that you inherited everything from. If this was a surprise and you have no paperwork, then you have some detective work to do. Much of it can be done for free. Friend me with the blue icon next to my name and I can get you started.
Contact me quickly about the pooling order. You have a very short time frame in which to answer and you need to let the operator know you exist. Otherwise they will assign you a very unfavorable set of terms.
What does it mean that it is pooled?
As far as the inheritance: Mother-in-law passed a few years ago. Father in law has all the paper work. I will see what it is he has.
Pooling is when the operators try to find everyone so they can lease them. If they can't find them (sometimes they don't look all that hard), they go to the corporation commission and request that the remaining mineral owners be "pooled" in with the rest of the owners that are leased so that they don't waste any more time and business can move on. The judge will hear their case and then offer a set of bonus/royalty pairs for choice that are pretty close to the going rate in the area. You only have 20 days to answer. Those who cannot be found will have their funds held for them by the operator for a certain number of years and then turned over to the state. If you do not answer, you get the 1/8th royalty and the higher bonus which is not favorable to you.
You might also register with the state of Oklahoma Mineral Owner Registry for an annual fee of $35.00 just in the off chance your Mother-In-Law and Father-In-Law might have other unknown properties that have languished. List all the names they have been know by, maiden or aka names, date of death and their previous generation. You never know where there is one lease there may be others that never transferred. It makes it easy for landmen to find you.
I'm still navigating my way through this and some of the in-laws do want to sell.
My Question (and I know this is purley speculative): How much income is likely to come from these mineral rights? If they have a bit over 3 acres and there is drilling, is it a gamble to hold the rights or should we relatively expect to receive decent income? I believe they have a 3/16 interest.
At this point, I have no context to even make an arguement with the family about holding vs Selling the interest.
thanks,
Keith:
It isn't easy to figure all this out, but I will try in layman's terms for you. You say there are 3.00 net acres in one section that are leased on 3/16ths. Because there are 2 sections for the producing unit, the section your minerals are under comprises 50% of the unit. So, you calculate your interest in any all production from either section as follows: 3.00 acres divided by 640 acres, times 0.1875(3/16ths), time 50%. This gives you your share of all production as 0.0004394. Now you can use whatever amount of oil and gas you want to use and project the prices for the same, and come up with whatever number you want to come up with. However, Newfield, the operator of the unit, claims there are 3 million barrels of oil and 53 BCF of gas under the unit. IF, and a big IF, Newfield is correct, using $40.00 per barrel of oil and $3.00 per mmcf of gas, the total revenue you could expect from the Woodford wells in your unit, to be approximately $122,000.00. How long will it take to produce all that revenue? Nobody knows. Will Newfield "take" 7-10% of your revenue for post production expenses. YES. Now, if the price of oil goes up or down and the same with natural gas, all these numbers change proportionately.
Hope this helps. If you want to discuss further, drop me a note: .
Respectfully,
Todd M. Baker
What is the opinion on a fair sale price now for 3/16 of Sec16 3N 4W? Landman is getting more aggressive and some family members want to sell. Last offer is around $13,000/acre.
Hi Keith:
There is one well already drilled on this unit with several more proposed. I believe that price is
too low. If you want to discuss further, drop me an e-mail at .
Respectfully,
Todd M. Baker
35+ years experience.
Thanks Todd. I'll shoot you an email this afternoon. I really appreciate the help!
They have finished 7 more wells in the Woodford. They have the OK for 2 more Woodford and 1 Springer. 11 wells is why the Landman is aggressive. Also there should be more Springer wells.
.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission produces a free publication called "Basic Information for Oklahoma Royalty Owners". You should download a copy from the OCC website and read it as background information. Many of your questions about how everything works can be found in this document.
The only way to determine if you are being offered a market price is to check with several different mineral buyers and compare prices. These minerals are in a good area.
In regard to the 12-2016 pooling order by Newfield: I have interest in Section 16-4N-2W. Can you tell me if 4N-2W was including in that order? Or how to access the order to view?
Thanks!