Looking for information on offer received

West Virginia Mineral Rights Tyler County, WV
1

I received a lease offer from Antero Resources on .5 gross acres in Tyler County (Meade District) that I didn't know I was an heir to. I have never dealt with mineral lease offers (or language) before and I would like to know what a fair offer is. The offer says my interest in the entire parcel is 0.00114 net acres - although I am the sole surviving heir.

They are offering $150 signing bonus and 15% royalty on all production and giving me 2 weeks from the time the letter was written (02/12/18) to reply.

I own 2 pieces of property in Marion County - both less than an acre. I paid $5000 for the smaller one and $6500 for the larger one. I know this offer is for a lease; not a purchase, but it seems a tad low. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,
-Alan

2

Easier just to accept what they are offering. It's a major headache on their end not only finding, but leasing, all of the fractional interest holders.

3

Alan,

You will receive countless comments that the offer is extremely low and you should not sign the lease offer. However, this is less than 1/2 an acre so you are not in a good position to argue. If I were in your shoes, I would sign their offer and not expect to become the next J.R. Ewing.

In regard to the 2 weeks to reply, a phone call to whoever sent the letter and that typically gives you greater time to consider the offer.

Good Luck

1 Like
4

Thanks, Zac.

5

Thanks for the reply. I definitely didn't think half an acre would give J.R. a run for his money. I just don't have anything to compare the offer to. It does seem that they went to a lot of trouble to track me down over some property I didn't know I owned just to offer me a signing bonus. Additionally, all the other heirs listed are deceased so I was (am) confused about why my interest in .5 gross acres is only 0.00114 net acres.

I will be giving them a phone call about the time limit.

6

Alan,

I suspect the .00114 net acres is based on your percentage of ownership in the 1/2 acre.

Good Luck

7

Thanks, that’s kind of what I thought, too. Guess I need to find out who has the other percentages.

8

One other thing; if you look at the $150 on a per acre basis, they would be paying you $131,578.94 per acre at $150 for .00114 acres. Not a bad per acre price ; )

9

Good point, it could be the interest in a Unit.

10

Alan,

I doubt they will provide it, but you can ask for a copy of the certified title report, which would list the percentages.

11

Nice! I wouldn't argue with that. However, they referred to the $150 they offered as a "signing bonus"; not the price for the lease. The only other figure they mentioned was 15% royalty on all production. I didn't see any amount mentioned in relation to the my interest in the net acres (unless I'm confused on what they mean by "signing bonus").

12

Thanks, I will check into that. I didn't have time to call Antero today but I plan on calling tomorrow.

13

price for the lease is the signing bonus.

14

Ah! Thanks again, Zac.

15

I want to thank everyone for their helpful replies to my post. I met with the Antero Landman today and got the lease papers signed. He answered all my questions satisfactorily and even provided me with a list of the names of my all my relatives involved with the land clear back to the early 1900's, something I've been wanting to trace for years. That was actually more valuable to me than the $150 signing bonus (of course, I didn't turn it down) :)

Again, thanks. This is really a great site.

-Alan

1 Like
16

Alan, Just curious… has anything come of this? I just got my packet in the mail today from Antero, my net acre share is .08239… signing bonus is $250. Have you recieved any royalty checks yet?

17

Hi JennChen, I received an offer from Antero of $250 to lease ($500 to buy) 0.15 acres in the Meade District, Tyler County, so I am wondering, before I sign up or try to negotiate with them, what if any action you took. Thanks!

18

Hi Donald. Leases in Tyler County are still going for about $3000/acre if you negotiate for a while, so your 0.15 should get closer to $450. Push them for more. I’d respond with a request for a $1500 flat fee (not a per acre price, just an “inconvenience fee” for signing) and 20% royalties. Expect to get 17-18% royalties and something closer to the $450. Actually, push them for more than the $450. We should always be trying to drive prices up. Also make sure to get Gross Proceeds at the Wellhead, No Warranty of Title, and Hold Harmless at a bare minimum. The thing about a 0.15 net mineral acre interest is that they still have to get a lease from you, or force you into a lease through cotenancy or a partition suit. They can’t proceed without you. Good luck!

19

Hi Kyle, Thank you so much for your reply. Very helpful. Last year on a different parcel, roughly same size, in the Ellsworth District we received $7,000/nma from Antero on a forced sale of our mineral rights. I think we’d actually prefer to sell at this point if we could get that price here as well.

20

Donald, have you considered contacting Antero about that other parcel?