I hope I am correct in stating that Permian deductions nor specified in the Lease were taken out. And that it took a lawyer to make them address the issue. I am interested in a class action lawsuit, it nothing else but to serve notice to their unlawful actions and coverage of our attorney fees to right a wrong
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Permian is deliberately ignoring the Lease or is a hot mess like Reeves County.
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A possibility for a drastic production decline is fracking nearby. They may shut in your wells to protect them during the frac and then they hopefully recover. Or there may be mechanical trouble. Only the operator can answer that question. If they will.
Is there a way to communicate with you directly? I’m not sure exactly how a class action suit works i.e. is it negotiated with the attorney contingent upon fees being paid only if suit is won?
I have been suspicious of the sell price for Natural Gas on statements. I compare it to the EIA price. To be clear this is a different operator. We have been meaning to ask the operator why the sale price on statements is way lower than the EIA price. I understand that there is contract prices but I have never seen it less than half or lower than the EIA price. Not sure I even know how to ask the question. If anybody has any insight in this please respond. Thank You
Interesting reading, but they represent oil operators, not mineral owners.
The point is that it is difficult to certify a class if royalty owners in Texas because their leases are not identical as to royalty provisions. Andrecent Texas cas law has not been very favorable to mineral owners. The Texas Supreme Court has set a quite narrow language requirements to avoid all costs under a lease. It is not enough to include the Heritage case language. The term ‘market price at the well’ pretty much subjects a mineral owner to costs. And the new gas sales contracts being signed by operators will require a lease to have specific ‘add-back’ language which very few old leases have. It is pretty discouraging. A class action attorney will want a very large group with substantial money involved as the attorneys generally collect 30%-40%, plus all costs, before the royalty owners are paid out of a settlement. So if the class cannot be certified by a court (ie all mixed into one lawsuit with a single set of arguments), then it is not very attractive for class action. Of course, if leases contain all the right language, then mineral owners can sue independently or as a smaller group, either by paying the legal fees or asking the attorney to take it on contingency.
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Great Information from someone who knows probably from experience. Thank you for the post!
It’s been a couple of years since I logged on and again appreciate the level of discussion and insight common to mineral rights owners. We also are involved with Permian Resources so tracking this discussion now. I’m happy to say we are getting a new lease on our remaining oil acres so now back to another learning curve related to our mineral rights being in a family trust…so much to learn glad I’m retired!
Are you an attorney, and if so, do you generally represent oil operators or mineral owners?
No Helen just my elderly mother’s representative for her mineral rights
Are you an attorney?
That the new interpretation of “market value at the well head” can be used as justification to ignore the no deductions but taxes clause that was clearly stated in an original lease or lease addendum strikes me as theft.
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I have an attorney working on this for us. Our lease provides that royalties should be based on Permian Resources’ gross proceeds at the point of sale of the gas, and the lease defines the point of sale as the point at which the gas is delivered into a trunk pipeline. However, Permian Resources has stated that they are selling the gas at the wellhead (where the gas comes out of the ground) and they are deducting the expenses associated with getting the gas from the wellhead to the pipeline.
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Patrick is the BEST!
I remember that class action suit against Ovintiv back in 2021–our family was reimbursed as part of it.
I hadn’t connected the dots that Bradford & Wilson were the legal group involved–nice to know, as I appreciate their work!
We own minerals in Stephens County, Oklahoma. Several years ago, OVINTIV took over production, replacing NEWFIELD as the operator. We began noticing exorbitant fees, with nearly half our totals being charged in deductions. It was notably a much larger portion than NEWFIELD’s deductions. After hearing that Bradford and Wilson handled a class action lawsuit against OVINTIV, I contacted their law offices in OKC on two separate occasions. There was never a follow-up and quite frankly, I was regarded in a very dismissive manner. Has anybody heard about OVINTIV being involved in additional lawsuits in other areas for similar behavior? We can’t seem to find out any more information. Thanks!
The way Permian Resources is treating mineral and royalty owners seems to be just PURE THEFT! I have been leasing and buying land and mineral rights since the late 1970’s. I have just been very lucky that some of the first oil and gas lease’s I signed never got drilled or produced upon! Ha Ha. I still wonder today if there is a “fool proof” oil and gas lease. Does a true Free Royalty without post production cost exist in Texas?
There are a lot of law firms that represent land, mineral and royalty owners in Texas. But who has the best lease? How do we know, when we sign, if we are “covered” on the cost free royalties? It seems to me that “At the wellhead” is the cheapest that the oil & gas prices will be the cheapest! The more I learn the less I realize I know sometimes.
I have always used an Oil and Gas Attorney to make sure it protects Mel The attorney will negotiate terms of the lease and have an Amendment to their lease. I think I will have the attorney look over my Lease to see if Permian is calculating the costs correctly. I don’t think it’s because of the Lease being imperfect. They are not calculating deductions as Colgate did. I think something illegal is going on. Someone did hire an attorney and Permian changed their deductions. Permian is the problem. They are just taking your money until you hire someone to set them straight. Meanwhile, they get to continue on taking people’s money until you stop it.
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Texas laws and precedence can change when a lawsuit is filed or the legislature passes a bill. What you can control is the lease by having the most up to date addendums. Try to stay informed by reading this forum and being a member of organizations such as NARO & TLMA. I asked our attorney to put in produced water clause and recovery there from about 5 years ago. He seemed surprised when I asked for it and may have thought I was getting out in the weeds. But just a few short years later the law changed re produced water & the lithium in it is making news.
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