Robert,
I am thinking about a clause that will go into my next lease on metering and separate tanks. Since you have worked in this business for years, maybe you can tell me. Does the meter need to go before the separate or after. Seems it should go after, but if they use the same separate for 4 wells on the same pad (as these separate and tanks are expensive) it may not meter my oil. Any suggestion would be great.
Martha,
Are you sure that other companies are drilling in your area? I didn’t lease to Devon, but they came in a bought everything off other companies. So now they have 9 Square miles and no one else is in the area as far as I can tell.
I was looking at the pooling order for section4, township 16 North range 4 west. The last sentence of paragraph 6.4 reads “There are no existing vertical wells producing from the above-named common sources of supply.” Can anyone tell me if there are other supplies other than Sylvan on this section? The reason being is that for the last eight months I have been receiving royalties from Twenty/Twenty oil company. The lease is on SW Section 4-16N-4W. It isn’t much, only about 25.00 per year.
The reason I am interested is that after the three year lease was signed I was contacted for an additional two year lease which was declined after attempting to make contact with the lessor. This is an oil and gas lease. I noticed in the pooling order that Twenty/Twenty was also listed as a party with interest with in the pooling. Who can I contact to address this issue.
Tom
Martha,
After reading the unfair-share-etc I don’t feel like a fool anymore. I haven’t figure out Chesapeake account system. And you can call and write all you want and they won’t tell you a thing. They are hoping that everyone has only a few acres and it’s not worth going to court for.
I like the outline that you posted from OU law school. Some good refrains to check out. I think it’s time we talk with our legislature regarding new laws for the mineral owners. Seems the oil companies can do whatever they want.
TJG, Yes, there are other sources of supply-Big Lime, Oswego, Skinner, Hunton, Miss Lime, Viola, Woodford, etc. Go back to your check stub and see which well they are paying on. There are several wells in the section producing from different zones.
Did you have a depth clause in your original lease? Was it with Twenty Twenty or another company? What are you trying to address? Whether you can lease again or whether you are about to get force pooled?
US News January 22, 2014
Unfair Share: How Oil and Gas Drillers Avoid Paying Royalties
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/464308-unfair-share-how-oil-and-gas…
Virginia, I worked for Chesapeake for only a short period of time and quit as soon as I figured out how they did their accounting. Their excel spreadsheets that proved the 2% cut was proof enough for me, so I ‘burned that bridge’. Supposedly, the new CEO has stopped all the cuts. Totally transparent accounting is the only accounting a mineral owner should have to accept.
Virginia, Yes, I’m quite sure there is a chance for another operator to drill in my section.
Also, here’s a question concerning this syllabus from OU school of Law. Notice at the top under I. C) Jurisdiction of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, 1) Limitations e) Oklahoma Law of Capture 52 O.S. § 111 I’m I right that the Oklahoma Law of Capture limits the Jurisdiction of the OCC ? http://jay.law.ou.edu/faculty/eking/OilGasPractice/2011/Syllabus.pdf
Catherine, I’m a firm believer in good people attract good people; for example this forum. However, attraction works both ways. My sweet little grandmother always said, “Birds of a feather flock together.”
Your Grandmother was right of course, Martha, but my Grandfather put it slightly another way, he said “Birds of a feather flock each other…” It is not surprising to me, when we read back to the early days of Standard Oil, of course, when John D Rockefellor resorted to bombing the competition out when he could not get his way by just beating them up. It is a nasty business and always has been, and I predict not about to change anytime soon.
Virginia I was hopeful the OCC would be more helpful with the metering standards but with oil and gas companies paying 22% of the total state tax in 2012 and will probably be more than that for 2013 I am not taken back by the response Mr Bryan received by the OCC. (Blatantly stealing oil)
2014 Legislation may bring "BAND-AID UNITS " to Oklahoma:
Read the OKLAHOMA-NARO Presidents Report Fall 2013 which can be found on-line @ http://www.naro-us.org/ subscription needed.
"a. Support for expansion of the Shale Reservoir Development Act to other formations:
In 2012 and 2013, the Working Group on Horizontal Wells participated in numerous meetings called by President Pro Temp Bingman, and chaired by Commissioner Murphy, to explore the possibility of legislation extending the use of Multiunit Horizontal Wells to formations beyond shale zone. COSMO’s Executive Director was asked to be one of two primary drafters of language for consideration by the working group. The resulting legislation stalled out in the 2013 legislative session. It is anticipated that additional talks will occur and that a revised bill will be advanced in the 2014 legislative session."
Then, Read about Arkansas Band-Aid Units which allows Cross-Unit Wells Read Pg 6 & 7 of : http://jay.law.ou.edu/faculty/Hampton/Mineral%20Title%20Examination…
“Other oil and gas producing states (Oklahoma and Louisiana, to name two) have taken notice and are actively considering their own variants of cross-unit well development. We should watch this particular wave with great interest.”
Based on the typos in that, I now know of several law firms I would never use.
Virginia I have stopped crying long enough to 'bere il frutto della vite", so I’ll second that! lol
Martha,
I wasn’t commenting on your typos, but the ones in the brief.
I am not a petroleum engineer so my input is worth less than the time it takes to type this. However, every study that I have ever seen says that a vertical hole never recovers more than 30% of the deposits during primary recovery, very expensive and unreliable secondary and tertiary might get you to 50%. If a horizontal well can exceed this everyone wins. The main thing to focus on is keeping 160 acres as the starting point for this until it is proven that you can equability pay the true holders fairly for a greater spacing. With shale most people have agreed that the oil is evenly dispersed through a section or two. That is not true for other deposits and I am sure there will be lots of lawsuits. I do totally agree with Martha in that the mineral owner of where the oil is should be paid for it.
This isn’t Cathy but----for the past several days I have been following the posts on this forum and can well understand the royalty owners being upset if infact all that is being reported is true, and I see no reason to believe it is not. Osage/Slawson has drilled several wells in the area around Cressant and this is where our interest is. In all I have read in the past several days, Osage/Slawson has not been mentioned. Are they that “squeaky clean” or should we be watching them a little closer? We are waiting on our first check, hoefully in a matter of days.
Actually, reading too much in or out of anything on the Internet because of typos is not too realistic. Typos happen when using a keyboard, and even with the best of typers. We also leave out words and neavly everyone seems to have some level of dyslexiate conditions when using a computer keyboard. It has and continues to baffle the experts, but mayby our next \President will create a 487 billion dollar project to study the whole thing and offer suggestions to correct it?
W Schweer, No problem, I was kidding about typos, but not kidding about the Dow. Southwestern and others, like Continental, are proving out the deep Dense Brown shale in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas called ‘Dense Brown Smackover’, so the drilling units are going to get very interesting. We ain’t seen nothin’ yet!
W.
I just hope they don’t try to space everything together hoping to hold several sections. I make money on lease bonus. I have a small tract that is being spaced multi-unit, so I will see how that come out.
Martha,
I just hope this turn in the stock market isn’t anything like it was 9 years ago. My husband lost 40% of his retirement. Thought I was going to have to learn to cook beans, just kidding.
I can’t type, can’t spell, so I don’t worry. But, were was our legislature educated???
Robert,
I like your addendum, do you know what the oil metering standard is? I hope you have additional minerals to lease and can use this addendum. I have over 400 A not leased at this time and will see if any oil company will lease with this next time. They don’t like my addendums now so why not add some more. I usually work with land men on my addendums and generally come to an agreement. It’s a give and take thing with me, but I do stand my ground or they can stay off my property. Thank you Robert for all your information. Do you know any legislature that can help us get some new laws in Oklahoma? I live out of state, so I don’t know them very good, but would be willing to write letters, make trips to OK, etc to get some protection for mineral owners.