Market for abandoned gas well equipment?

Surface Owner Issues
1

We are surface owners of Public School Land in Reeves County. We had found out from GLO records that the previous operator of the gas well on this property had relinquished the lease and abandoned the well. (Approximately 1 year ago)

Since we are absentee landowners we had not had the opportunity to view the property until this past week. We were surprised to observe that the previous operator had left several 4 very large tanks, 2 pieces of equipment which looked like dryers, and the meter house complete with meter and equipment. The well appeared to be intact with the multi-valve assembly in place.

In reviewing the previous lease ie.GLO standard form, we found that the owner of the soil shall become the owner of any machinery, fixtures, or casing which are not timely removed by the lessee under the terms of this paragraph. Since it appears that we are now owners by default, does anyone know if there is a market for this equipment.??

Any answers would be appreciated.

Marie Haag

2

Kenneth:

My first suggestion in regards to finding an idividual interested in this equipment, would be to contact the RRC of Texas (Midland, Texas Field Office) and learn who works in the State Funded Plugging section of this agency. Contact this person and find out what companies purchase left over equipment on the State Funded Plugging jobs. This person most likely deals with abandoned well sites and will probably have some names that have purchased equipment in the past.

3

Thanks Charles. We will look into that. It just seems a waste to leave it setting on the land. We have just leased the section that the former gas well(equipment) is on plus another adjoining section. Would that make a difference?

Marie

charles s mallory said:

Kenneth:

My first suggestion in regards to finding an idividual interested in this equipment, would be to contact the RRC of Texas (Midland, Texas Field Office) and learn who works in the State Funded Plugging section of this agency. Contact this person and find out what companies purchase left over equipment on the State Funded Plugging jobs. This person most likely deals with abandoned well sites and will probably have some names that have purchased equipment in the past.

4

Kenneth:

I don't see that leasing this area should have any impact on the equipment on the site. I may be wrong but I think the RRC could make the previous operator remove all surface equipment from the location except for the buried piping. You might pose this question to the individual at the RRC.

Kenneth L. Haag said:

Thanks Charles. We will look into that. It just seems a waste to leave it setting on the land. We have just leased the section that the former gas well(equipment) is on plus another adjoining section. Would that make a difference?

Marie

charles s mallory said:

Kenneth:

My first suggestion in regards to finding an idividual interested in this equipment, would be to contact the RRC of Texas (Midland, Texas Field Office) and learn who works in the State Funded Plugging section of this agency. Contact this person and find out what companies purchase left over equipment on the State Funded Plugging jobs. This person most likely deals with abandoned well sites and will probably have some names that have purchased equipment in the past.