Our family has been sitting on a small % of mineral rights on 280 acres T7R60W,Section31since 1930. The surrounding property has wells but the drilling on our property apparently came up empty years ago. However since oil and gas are not constrained by surface ownership boundries, one would think that the surrounding mineral rights owners that are successufully pumping oil & gas would have some financial responsbility to share with all owners above the "pool". We have filed several "Reguest for Notice's" setting forth the particulars with the Weld County Recorder over the past 25 years with no result. We have also tracked down the majority mineral rights owners from time to time with no results.
We need some help to figure this out before another generation of our family is gone and the next one has to start all over again.
I don’t know how much help I can be since I’m still learning about it myself but my family has 310 mineral acres in Weld County with a lease over 40 years old. Production wasn’t that much until they went for oil shale and it shot way up and then declined of course but at the same time they applied for pooling our acreage into two 480 acre units. Don’t know how that’s going to play out but pooling seems to becoming more common so it might work out for you. But the mineral acre owners themselves have no say in the matter, even if they object it’s overridden. If you think there’s a possibility that oil is being extracted under your land without your being compensated you need to talk to the oil company, the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission or an oil and gas attorney.
Pooling orders can also be located at the COGCC website - http://cogcc.state.co.us/reg2.html#/orders - be sure you enter the section number, and then it should be the format of 7N and then 60W. Omit the "T" for Township and the "R" for Range. Good luck.
Thanks for your thoughts...but what do you mean by "they applied for pooling our acreage"...who was "they". I think our solution is to achieve a pooling order but don't know how to get it off the ground.
We only have a 1% royalty interest....the 95% interest (an oil company in Texas) will not communicate with me. The other 4% ? who knows who or where they are.
Thanks for your input Jenna. Almost embarrassed to tell you that I was an attorney in California and Oregon for many years but the issues on oil & gas law were practically non-existant. A search of the COGCC reflects no orders exist for this acerage and I have checked the website occassionally over the past 20 years. The question is who initiates a "pooling order"?
"They" is the oil company that will be drilling and producing in the pooled acreage also known as a Drilling and Spacing Unit. From what I have seen most pooled DSU's are 960 acres, but it does vary. I'm not sure if the oil company that is applying for the DSU has to control 100% of the minerals via ownership/signed lease, or just a majority percent, someone else might be able to clear that up. When they do apply you will receive notice from the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission that the DSU has been proposed. Then there is a hearing which I'm pretty sure is just a formality. Once this is approved all acreage is pooled and all the oil and gas produced are shared among all the mineral owners in the DSU according to the percent that you own. If you only own 1% of the minerals in the DSU you will only receive royalties on 1% of what was produced in the entire unit, whether it came from your minerals or the neighbors minerals and vise verse. There is a great calculator that will break down what you will receive based on your spacing unit, current price of oil, acres owned, and royalty percentage. Google "mantra oil gas calculator" You will probably need to do some estimating on production levels based on some wells in your vicinity. I'm sure Jenna can help out if any of this is incorrect as she has a clear grasp on this and has helped me understand a few questions that I have had.
May I ask you a related question? Last year around the time the new wells were being added on our property, 21 2N 66W, I received a number of division orders to sign from Anadarko. It wasn’t clear to me what they were talking about since the mineral acreage referenced was much larger than our 310 acres. Now I’m guessing that this was part of pooling. I never signed and returned the division orders not knowing what it was I would be signing. Was this a mistake, should I do so now?