My mother leased through company A who sent us a lovely letter when they transferred the lease to company B. Well drilled by Company C five years ago and we never received a dime for the well in that section. We have good title since C is paying us in the section next door which is part of the same mineral deed. I just discovered the missing well when I was doing an audit of my mom’s properties. I already sent them a letter. Hoping for that 18%. I have a copy of the signed lease. This could be fun.
Does anyone have a link to the Diamond/Continental lawsuit? I need to pay attention to that. In the middle of trying to get paid on a well that was drilled five years ago, but the transfer of leases from one firm to another dropped us off the list!
I can forsee someone having heartburn. Yes it should be fun.
Not the biggest boo boo I ever heard of but I can’t give details because it’s ongoing, in the mineral owners favor and may never be discovered. Some people are just lucky.
Roughly equivalent though was when someone else was paid my royalty on 4 wells for 4 years. I hope they didn’t buy a new house because I think it’s going to be awhile before they see another royalty check. They had a similar name and an interest…just not my interest.
Does anyone have any insight on how to deal with XTO Energy? They, unfortunately, are working most of my wells and I run up against a new wall every time I call there. It seems they can’t keep employees because each time I’ve called, the person I talked to previously no longer works there and I have to start all over. I had things all worked out with one guy and when I didn’t start receiving checks as promised, I find out he’s no longer there either. No one will give me a straight answer on anything and I usually wind up talking to someone who has absolutely no idea what they are doing. I am frustrated beyond belief at this point. They have actually full out lied to me. I have already spent more money than I have on legal fees chasing not even knowing if it’s worth it. Pulling my hair out at this point.
Janie, first you have a deed recorded in your name. Then you have a lawyer send a demand letter referencing the document number. Send the demand letter return receipt requested. At that point you have done everything you need to do, short of suing them. You can add in calling them once a week. The thing is, if you signed a lease, you probably gave up all your rights, that is what leases are about.
I have not found anywhere and nobody else has yet told me of any statute that says an oil company must pay royalty on a lease at all. The closest thing is that they must pay interest if they are late paying and you have marketable title. There is no law on the books that says they can not go on forever mot paying royalty or interest on late payment. If that is what they are doing, all you can do is sue.
[ Above is except for the forced pooling law which says the operator must pay the weighted average of what others leased for in the spacing or 16% ]. It beats the heck out of suing the operator and because you still have all your rights a lawsuit is much more likely to go in your favor. I guess that’s why they pay me, because they certainly don’t love me.
The lease gives the operator clear title to your oil whether they pay you or not.
You can get a good idea of how much you are owed by figuring how much the well/s have produced, how much the oil should have sold for on a well by well basis and figuring you will keep 50% to 60%.
There are graphs and charts for how much oil has sold for historically. The price of oil from my favorite well first producing in late 2011 has been between $73 and $106 averaging in excess of $85 per barrel sales price, not commodity price. Do not worry about the gas produced, it’s probably less 5% of earnings from a ND well and that can be part of the “fudge” factor.
Worst case, you could figure the oil at $60 a barrel sales price, I don’t know anyone in ND who has received less than that for the last couple years for more than a check or two.
It’s a shame oil companies have to be like this
I find where I have not leased, I get alot more attention because I have not given up all my rights. Where I am unleased, I get paid promptly. If the matter comes up in the future, consider not leasing.
I’m sure many people get paid their royalty, I am sure there are many who do not get paid royalty and not all of them find their way to this site which has numerous examples. The number of people who never received royalty and just gave up is unknown.
Janie,I have wells on 29-150n-98w that are operated by XTO.2 wells that have been producing since 4/2013,that xto has not paid anything.The emails and calls to xto don’t do any good good.I contacted NDIC to see if the state had any kind of watchdog to look into problems like this.I was given the phone # of Tom Boudreau,(he is with xto),to see if he could help with this.I will be calling him Monday.His # is 817-885-2164 if you would like to call him also.
Mr Smith, I too am getting concerned about XTO and their non-response’s.
I would be curious to know the response you get from Mr Boudreau.
We are not to the point where you are but I am keeping my finger on the pulse.
Thanks for the responses. I will be contacting Mr. Boudreau also and we can compare notes.
I have never signed a lease and I know that, with most of the wells, no one in my family was ever contacted so no leases were signed. I have all the deeds recorded in my name and demand letters were sent out. No problem with any oil company except XTO, which controls most of my wells.
Like I said, let call this Boudreau person and compare notes. There has to be someone working at XTO who has a soul.
r w or anyone…was hoping you could help me help my friend!
I have a good friend who’s dad died and left her quite a bit of mineral rights in North Dakota. She lives in Oklahoma and we are trying to help her find out about what she might own. It’s still in her dad’s name but they are working on that. Do you know anything about reading North Dakota stuff and can you find out anything about it? All are in McKenzie Co., Township 151N Range 97w.
Her dad’s papers say the wells are ~ Shafermaker 11-15H mbh-ulw- This is the most recent and is a well proposal. Then she has the Haymaker 21-15H tr 5 tr 6 and tr7
Then there is one that is Haymaker 11-15H
From these names can you tell how many wells there are now. She has had an attorney out there who she now believes is messing her around. She’s already paid him (big mistake she knows now) but her husband is disabled from a broken neck and she has no one to take care of business except herself so any help would be appreciated.
I was hoping to hear that Mr Boudreau had some information for Jane and Mr Smith. Mostly that there is a good explanation for the delay in making payments and that you both are satisfied with the response. I’m giving them until June and then I too will call Mr Boudreau.
When Denbury sold, to XTO, I thought it would be such a good thing. A big name, deep pockets and “certainly a great reputation to match”. For the most part the questions and complaints on this forum are about XTO.
They keep a record of the times we have contacted them and the response that was given, so when they make you start over again that seems a little suspect. I’m hoping that this Mr Boudreau has some empowerment behind him. Maybe like an ombudsman. I have not been one bit impressed with the quality and quantity of their Owner Relations information. Probably shouldn’t expect much.
When Denbury sold out to XTO my nightmares began. If they keep a record of contacts and responses, they “lose” them whenever it becomes convenient to do so. I also think the fact that they can’t seem to maintain employees speaks volumes about what type of company they are. I would love to report back that I had a great experience with them and I am trying to be positive. I’ll keep you posted.
I never got beyond leaving messages. Hoping to hear from him tomorrow.
I must say that, as much as I would love a clear explanation, I would be shocked by it. XTO has been an absolute nightmare for me and I’m a little leery of going over everything again with another person only to have them leave XTO and me having to start all over again. I will, however, continue to try and reach our Mr. Boudreau.
Hi Linda! It’s a little difficult knowing without section numbers, but from the well names it appears your friend has interests in T-151 R-97 section 15 where there is one producing well and two more spud earlier this month! 6 more permits.
The first well, Haymaker 21-15H, looks like it had some issues but has managed to produce 205,390 barrels oil since September of 2010. The two newly spud wells are the Shafermaker 11-15MBH-ULW and Haymaker -11-15TFH. Both the Bakken and Three Forks are going to be produced and it will probably take 6 wells in each formation to fully exploit.
It’s a good area. It could be a cash cow area, one in which they plan to greatly exploit right away with 6 to 9 wells. If it’s unleased, I wouldn’t get in any hurry. I would gladly be force pooled in this area if I had more than 2 acres.
Section 10 just north is receiving the same treatment with 2 good producing wells and three more spud and another 5 permits.
Linda, your friend needs to get the deed into her name. Sadly, lawyers in the Bakken have all the work they want, can pick and choose, charge as much as the market will bear and generally aren’t doing first rate work from what I have observed. Some of them are charging $4,000 for the simplest of probates.
I am sorry to hear that your friend is having hard times. A good chunk of money is coming her way if she has more than a couple acres but it’s going to take a while to get to her.
If your friend has acres in sections 5,6, and 7 also, then she has 2 more wells, one is so-so having been drilled in 2009 when the completion tech was not up to todays standards [section 7] and another really good well drilled in 2011 [sections 5 and 8]. It’s hard to tell if this is what is meant by tr5, tr6, tr7.
Linda, if you can get some more information/clarification, we can firm this up. Have a great day!
Ms, Bohnsack, please remember you spoke to a politician.
Keep in mind that there are so many who do not have good title and would not receive interest.
It’s a lengthy process these days to even find a lawyer who will take on more work and when they do they may take yourretainer and put you on the back burner for a year before starting a simple probate so you can have good title. The oil companies take full advantage of this.
The operator may get to use that money for years, and only have to pay interest to a few. The operator is supposed to pay interest without being asked. So few operators were paying interest that the law had to be changed in 2011 that they must pay interest whether you ask for it or not, but they still don’t pay until you make an issue of it, after all, nothing happens to them if you file suit and they go ahead and pay it, case dismissed.
Mr. Kennedy Thank you for the explanation about the lack of clear title for many acres. Glad to know something that makes some sense to describe oil company behavior.
Dianne, when a well changes hands, the new owner gets both the benefits and liabilities for the well. If it were a well so poor that nobody would take it, you might be out something, but I wouldn’t expect it to be a monster well and suddenly fail beyond repair, with alot of back royalty owing.
Linda, There is a Haymaker 21-15H drilled in 2010. It produces from S 15 & 22. There is a Shafer 1-21H drilled in 2010. It produces from S 16 & 21.
No Shafermaker 11-15H producing, but it is permitted.
Looks like quite a few Haymakers (maybe 9 if I counted right) and the Shafermaker are permitted for 2014. They are testing the Bakken and the Three Forks. So looks like some nice activity coming.
Mr. Kennedy is much more knowledgeable about whether to lease or to be force pooled. (Their rules are very different than OK).
Thanks. I found the production numbers for each well. Looks like the average of the newer ones is around 80 to 100 barrels a day production.