My parents received a participation letter from a landman. The letter mentioned my great grandfather and made mention to an offer to participate in the operating interest of the well. My parents had their attorney attempt to contact the landman. I also called the landman and neither of us received a response. We have not received any further communication and I would like to find out what rights/deed is listed in Dunn county that caused this landman to contact us. I do not know where to begin or what exactly I am looking for and need help.
From my own wells in Dunn county I know acres there could be quite valuable. I think you should invite the landman to send you the offer so you could get a legal description, ask him to send a lease offer at the same time, even if you have no intention of leasing. Both the participation offer and the lease offer would have to contain the legal description and would give you an idea of what and where you own. From that point it would be simple for me to tell you how the well has done and you can go forward armed with more information than you have now. You could also look for what you own in old will and probate paperwork or leases, if you have any. Good luck.
I believe I may have the legal description for the well proposal. The letter has the following in the top right corner and from my research it looks like the legal land description....
Fort Berthold 148-95-23D-14-1H
T148N-R95W
Sec. 14:All
Sec. 23: All
Dunn Co., ND
Is it common to ask for payment for drilling and completion costs up front?
r w kennedy said:
From my own wells in Dunn county I know acres there could be quite valuable. I think you should invite the landman to send you the offer so you could get a legal description, ask him to send a lease offer at the same time, even if you have no intention of leasing. Both the participation offer and the lease offer would have to contain the legal description and would give you an idea of what and where you own. From that point it would be simple for me to tell you how the well has done and you can go forward armed with more information than you have now. You could also look for what you own in old will and probate paperwork or leases, if you have any. Good luck.
It's common that they ask for participation up front, but usually they try to lease you first.. There is a well being drilled in section 23 but the information I get from the state site says it drains the spacing [26-35 spacing] south of yours. There are permits for well/s to drain the 23-14 spacing and that will be your well when it is drilled, which will probably be done as soon as the finish drilling the current well, soon at any rate. Your acres are in a good to very good area in my opinion. It was probably a mistake on someones part to ask you for participation before even attempting to lease you. Petro-Hunt LLC is the operator, the wells name is FORT BERTHOLD 148 95 23D 14 1H, or FORT BERTHOLD 148 95 23D 14 2H. There are two permits which may mean you are getting two wells at once or possibly only one, or one now and one later as there is no hurry after they get 1 producing well and you are held by production. If you intend to lease I would be letting it be known far and wide that I had such acres in a good area to be leased as nothing sets market value as well as competition, in my opinion. I am having some difficulty with the map at the moment and there is some chance that you could be in a larger 4 section 2560 acre spacing, if so yours wouldn't be the only one in the area. Good luck!
Thank you so much for answering my questions. My parents do not have any deeds or other formal paperwork showing rights yet I know they were found through researching some information. Could you tell me what I need to be looking for through the Dunn County records? Perhaps a land or mineral rights deed. I am not even sure what I am looking for but I would like to find the same thing the landman found and used to send us the request.
r w kennedy said:
It's common that they ask for participation up front, but usually they try to lease you first.. There is a well being drilled in section 23 but the information I get from the state site says it drains the spacing [26-35 spacing] south of yours. There are permits for well/s to drain the 23-14 spacing and that will be your well when it is drilled, which will probably be done as soon as the finish drilling the current well, soon at any rate. Your acres are in a good to very good area in my opinion. It was probably a mistake on someones part to ask you for participation before even attempting to lease you. Petro-Hunt LLC is the operator, the wells name is FORT BERTHOLD 148 95 23D 14 1H, or FORT BERTHOLD 148 95 23D 14 2H. There are two permits which may mean you are getting two wells at once or possibly only one, or one now and one later as there is no hurry after they get 1 producing well and you are held by production. If you intend to lease I would be letting it be known far and wide that I had such acres in a good area to be leased as nothing sets market value as well as competition, in my opinion. I am having some difficulty with the map at the moment and there is some chance that you could be in a larger 4 section 2560 acre spacing, if so yours wouldn't be the only one in the area. Good luck!
Mr. Cartwright, there should be a deed although it may be in your great grandfathers name. If inherited and not probated in ND you will probably have to probate the estate in ND. I recommend you file a statement of claim immediately with your legal description, stating that you wish to preserve your rights to oil and gas, coal, uranium, potash, sulpher, gravel and any other minerals so forth and so on. You can search for the statement of claim form or type up your own and have it notarized. The recorders office isn't picky as long as you leave 1 1/4 inches in the right hand margin and 3 1/2 inches at the bottom for the seal. ND does have a dormant minerals law where the surface owner could reclaim your minerals if not used [leased, borrowed against] or claimed for 20 years, filing a claim may forstall some problems.