Los Angeles County, CA oil & gas discussion group. Share your experience regarding lease bonus, royalty rates, drilling activity, and oil & gas news.
We are in escrow to purchase a property in Los Angeles, mid-Wilshire area. On the Preliminary Title Report there is mention of an Oil & Gas Lease (seems to be an old one). The current Seller never followed up and I can't find any info on the internet based on the Lessor and Lessee names. According to the Title company the rights are also being transferred with the property. How can I find more information? If the wells are still active, who is the oil company handling the area, if someone out there is receiving royalty checks, or not etc...Any help is appreciated.
Helen:
I would be wary of a Title company's information that the mineral interests are included in the sale of the property. Too often they do not actually conduct full title to know this. If you know the section, township and range from the legal description you can go online to the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources' website and put in the information and find out what wells are there as well as their status. If you do not know this information or would prefer that someone else confirm this, a landman could find this out for you.
I wish you well in your endeavors.
I own a property in the West Adams area of LA and have found out that the mineral rights to my property were separated from the actual home many years ago. Plains Exploration (PXP) which is now owned by Freeport McMoran I think sent me the will of the previous owner granting the mineral rights to their heirs. It would be nice if these mineral rights could somehow come back to me, perhaps if those heirs died without transferring these rights or some other reason. I don't see how some other individual other than myself, the home owner, can own the mineral rights directly under my property. Doesn't seem right.
I think DM is right. If you suspect you have the minerals, I would contact the operator and have them review title to see if you actually do own it. Rather than spend time and money to have an independent person analyze it.
Helen,
It might actually be worth checking out. A landman will run $450/day in most places. I can't say how long it would take to run title on an interest but some can do it in a few hours.
There are still wells in the Beverly Hills pool doing plenty of oil and while we don't know the size of your land, if a well is making 5,000 barrels a month, the royalty math could work out to between $200-1,000 a month for a residential sized lot. This could be profitable, those wells in the Beverly Hills pool go on and on...
Most people don't know about these old wells because they're all very well hidden.
One last comment on severed mineral interests in California. There is a statutory scheme under the Civil Code, Section 883.210 et seq. that gives the surface owner the ability to quiet title to dormant mineral rights for the minerals in the surface owners' parcel. There are specific requirements but the statute works for those surface owners who are wanting to obtain ownership of dormant mineral rights.
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I just discovered this web site, etc. would anyone know who had the lease on the Willmigton properties before Williams Resource bought them. I am an heir to the mineral rights, but just found out about the Royalties that had accrued since 2004. ( long story). There seems to be a time line since about 1990 thru 2004 where there is no record of Royalties or who owned the lease? I did fined out that Exon had the lease before theses dates.
We purchased a property (duplex) in the Mid-Wilshire area in 2015. According to the Title, the oil & mineral rights also transferred. The agent of the seller said they don't know anything about it and they never followed up with the rights. I'm not sure if they gave me the right information. At the time, the Title Company told us to buy an Oil & Gas Endorsement Insurance and we did. I never followed up, but now I'd like to find out if we have any rights. I've been told that a landman may be able to help. Any information will be appreciated, including landman...Thank you!
Helen, I believe the operator is Freeport-McMoran, which has recently been acquired by Sentinel Peak Resources. I would contact them about a change of ownership for your property. http://sentinelpeakresources.com/