Inherited Arkansas Mineral Rights

Ownership and Title
1

Hello all! I am an industry professional for over 20 years, although I am VERY new to the MR side of the coin. Long story, so I apologize in advance and thank you for bearing with me.

My Grandfather passed away in 2016, and along with him much of the knowledge we had on his mineral rights. Fast forward to this past year and my uncle had stumbled across some unclaimed property in my grandfathers name. Through a great deal of study we were able to access S-T-R, lease names, API numbers, as well as the knowledge that taxes had not been paid on 5 wells (2 separate operators) since 2016. (all in Faulkner County Arkansas) We have since caught them up and they are current.

We have gotten the heirship paperwork sent over to both operators and have already gotten a check back from one of them. (Albeit much smaller amounts than production data suggests) They unclaimed property was only from one operator and not the same operator as we have already received a check from. Each of these 5 wells are producing 5,000 + MCF monthly and dating back to the time of my grandfathers passing they were doing approx 11,000+ mcf monthly each. . According to the documentation on energylink these wells are and have only ever produced anywhere from 4mcf to 300mcf monthly. (Completely contradicts production data from the Arkansas Oil & Gas Commission)

I also have copies of the original mineral deeds, although I do not see an interest rate/owner share %. (1/8, 1/16, 1/32 ect.) My question is how do I go about seeing what the agreed upon interest rate is? Would that be a Division Order?

Another concern I have is that the owner % and Distribution % listed in energylink was showing 6.66666670% as of 2017 and then randomly changed to 0.04446600% some time in 2020. What, why, and how could this occur?

It also appears that they are deducting Fuel/Gathering/Post Production Costs/Treating as well. Where would I find out if that is how these locations are deeded as these deductions were agreed to?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Thank You all,

SC

2

Contact the Division Order analyst for the wells and ask for a copy of the lease. Also ask for a copy of the Division Order and ask why the percentage changed between the time frames. Most states do have the post production charges unless they were negotiated out of the lease. You can ask the agent for the equation for each wells decimal interest.

You may be seeing the net production on Energy Link for your portion, not the gross. The statements should have both. Current production will be much lower than it was in early stages of the wells-normal decline.

The lease will have the royalty, not the deeds. Your royalty is a combo of the net acres/spacing acres x royalty rate x percentage of the perforations in your spacing unit.