I have inherited a share of my parents mineral rights in Eagle district. How can I find out the details of the lease, when it was last renewed/leased and when it is up for renewal. Originally whas held by HG, is now American Energy Marcellus. There are 3 tracts involved and is active as my mother was receiving royalties. But I would like to have actual details so I know exactly what we are dealing with when it comes time to do business with Landman or next lessee.
Hi Criss,
I found this for online records for Harrison Co WV Harrison County WV documents
There might not be documents in there for what you want, but worth a try. Look under names you know. Try the recent American Energy and HG. When I put in American Energy (business name search), the first document that came up was a deed from East and HG to American Energy. Look all through that, and see if you see some familiar names.
Explore around that site. Ask questions if you need to. Maybe somebody here can help some more. You might get lucky and find things easily, or you might have to dig and dig, and still not find it on that site. Worth a try.
Thanks, Nancy! I have already been to the link you recommended. It only shows my parents' assignments to the Trust and then to myself and my two siblings. It does not show the active lease unfortunately. I am hoping Mr. Nuttall can help with all of this. It really shouldn't be this difficult to get the actual details we all need before we sign anything, or to learn what the current status is. At least in this day and age of digital information we should be able to access this information even if we do have to order/pay for the documents once we locate them. Thank you for being so active on this site and for all the info I have gleaned from your responses to myself and others.
Nancy, my logic is that my parents didn't hold onto this for nothing! LOL! We shall see what happens when the price of oil goes back up! I have been to the DEP website and various others and have located the wells and they are active. I just cannot find the active lease to determine when the next renewal is so I know how to negotiate. I am determined, and I am computer savvy so I shall continue searching :)
When the Harrison database is back up, try looking at that lease assignment you get when you put in American Energy. I can't get it working now either, but yesterday at one point it was. Maybe they take it down to add records, then put it back up. Not sure. Anyway if you look through that assignment you probably will see a lease with some ancestor's name on it, and a book and page number, date of the lease, and which company it was assigned to. If so, try to order that from Harrison county. I haven't had reason to work with them, but the counties where I have ordered documents from all have ways to accept payment and send documents if you know the book and page. Tyler, when it is working, is the best at being able to access the old records also (from a download).
I know Kyle Nuttall has written that he has a landman he works with who can do courthouse research. Perhaps if you need more than you can get through the Harrison database, he can arrange something.
Keep looking. Worth the effort.
Just checked: working now. There is an assignment from East Resources and H G Energy to American Energy Marcellus LLC dated 1 August 2014 in book 1536 pages 1242-1260. You could start there and see what you find.
Nancy
Just located all 3 wells for my parents assigned to American Energy. Now I have just one more question for you...Our Trustee was able to get the assignment from the Family Trust to each of us girls recorded at the Harrison County recorder BUT she is having trouble contacting American Energy to confirm they have the information so they will not sent any more royalty checks to the Trust but to each of us girls. She has left messages and sent emails. Today I sent her a ton of contact info for American Energy, including the Oklahoma address and phone number. Is there an area agent that she should be contacting to get this confirmation? She got the assignment from the Trust to us back in October but royalty checks came in the name of the Trust just a couple of weeks ago. We are trying to close out the Trust so need confirmation from American Energy that they have the current information. You are incredibly helpful....shouldn't you be getting a commission from your help? LOL Cheers!
Glad I can help.
I don't know much about American Energy. Have you sent a certified letter? May need an attorney's letterhead (Kyle Nuttall could probably do it, or someone else. I have been reading that a lot of these companies have been reducing staff due to the low prices of oil so it may be time to be the squeaky wheel and squeak a lot until they hear you. Probably the main office in Oklahoma is where the change has to be made, I would think.
Have you had any luck in getting the Harrison County database to work? It can be really frustrating when it doesn't.
Good evening, Nancy! I was able to get into Harrison County database and could view the log that listed the Grantor and Grantee and found the original entry on that log dated 1909 but haven't been able to view the actual document yet. I did speak to the landman that is working our Tyler County interests and he is going to send me the original lease for those wells. That's a start! But silly me, while I had him on the phone I forgot to mention that I thought more than 12.5% was in order! Can that be changed with the amendment or can that only be changed with a lease renewal negotiation? And I forgot to ask him when the current lease is up for renewal. Guess I will just call him again. I am sure I emailed our Trustee more than enough ways to contact American Energy, she shouldn't have any problem now. I know that American Energy merged again and is now American Energy Appalachian AEP so there seems to be a lot transition going on.
I believe that the main negotiating is with a new lease. If they really need you, and they need a modification signed such as to include pooling, you possibly can get something changed. But usually they just offer a signing fee (often called an Inconvenience Fee) to sign a modification. Doesn't hurt to ask. If you (or the trust) is getting paid for a well/wells on this lease then it is considered "held by production" and still under the original lease terms (except for the newer gas wells being 1/8 instead of the $200 or whatever per year flat rate.
Once you have the lease to read (handwriting for the Tyler lease I saw) you can read the modification and see what it changes. Always a good idea to have an attorney look at any legal document you sign. So much of that can be done via email for those of us who don't live on the property where our mineral rights are.
Once you sign, you probably won't hear from your landman again, and it is much harder to get anybody to talk with you. So take advantage of their interest in you and your signing!
OMG today they added about 13-15 more people on the Stackpole interests! I can only imagine that a royalty check would be about $0.40! LOL
Oh and yes, the amendment does read "pooling"