I just had an offer from an energy company wanting to buy surface rights beneath another energy company that is already drilling there. Has anyone ever heard of this ? I don’t know who to ask about this … it’s in carter county
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Those would be mineral rights, not surface rights if they are at depth below current production. You might be better off leasing them and keeping your mineral rights in one piece.
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Yes I just wasn’t sure if it was possible to lease/sell certain levels of the mineral rights I wasn’t aware of that could even be done or not through a division order and didn’t know who to ask
A chase brown a land man from southwest energy said there purchasing mineral land and asked if I’d be interested. I called back no return call as of yet. Is this like a timber buyer tactic. This is really getting silly.
If your minerals are open at deeper depths, you can lease them or sell them. You have to go back to your original lease to read it and see what the terms are and whether they are open. If you are in certain parts of Carter, it would probably be wise to hold onto them for the deeper drilling and hope that it is good.
Ms. Barnes: In reading all the actions filed with the oil and gas commission regarding Echo seeking 640 acre spacing for a well to test the Sycamore and Woodford I can’t tell if they got a final judgment on their request as Citation and a few others filed notice of protest. Did Citation receive an order telling them to drill the deep or drop that part of the lease currently held by production? that they aren’t exploiting. It sounds like Echo is ready to go but I really need or want to know the status of my minerals. Ihad mapped a Sycamore prospect in this area many years ago then got off to other pursuits …maybe i had it partially right but did not see the Woodford as a reservoir back then. Hopes are high. Thank you
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Which section, township and range? Echo has filings all over the place in Carter.
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2&11 2south3west. Sycamore and woodford
DHawk- which section, township and range for you if different from T Sanders? The answers may be different.
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Section 7, Township one south range three west …they are trying to buy minerals even though they are under an old 1950’s lease
Echo is trying to buy minerals in this section even though some of the acreage is under a 1950’s one-eighth royalty lease
I am just finding out about this and unfortunately know very little on this topic, but I have been contacted several times recently about selling mineral rights in Carter County. I have recently inherited these mineral rights and have no idea what is a good or bad offer.
Can someone help direct me to find/understand info on this?
Thanks!
Echo Energy, Casillas Petroleum, Citation Oil & Gas, Roan Resources, and 89 Energy have all filed some kind of regulatory application or another in the immediate area. This is a Sycamore and Woodford play, although Sycamore quality drops significantly as you head South. Leasing has been ongoing for at least 2 years. Roan and Casillas are the only companies I would trust to actually drill their acreage in the near term. Citation filed regulatory a couple of years ago in the area for horizontal drilling but never acted upon it. Echo Energy just assigned the bulk of their acreage to Continental Resources. Further activity is coming, but the current price regime for WTI is not as stimulating as it could be.
As to selling your minerals, any firm is going to try to buy them at the lowest price you are willing to sell them for. It is important for you to already have some number of this sort already in mind prior to beginning a negotiation.
As to the value of your minerals, if you want to know what your minerals will bring on the open market, wait until you receive multiple offer letters in the mail from multiple companies and compare them.
Ask around and find a “reputable company” and when you are ready, call them and try to make a deal.
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Echo is one of the largest private mineral owners in the State. If they are offering, there is a reason. They also were recently the largest leaseholder in this play until the assignment earlier this month to Continental.
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Thank you for the response. Like I said, I know very little on this topic and only recently even became aware of this. I certainly do not want to make a mistake on this. The offers I have received were to buy the mineral rights, could they also just be leased? And how would I find out if they were already under lease! Is that even a possibility?
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This area has seen production since the early 1920’s. Your minerals could very well already be held by a lease that has been producing for the past 100 years.
The cheapest way to find out if your minerals are already under lease is to converse with the next mineral buyer that calls. You don’t have to sell to them, but if you can get a little work out of them and hopefully get a few answers for your peace of mind. Just don’t sign anything unless you are 100% sure you want to sell.
The alternative way to find out would be to find a Title Examiner to go to the Carter County Courthouse and run your title. This way is expensive, but would get you a pretty certain answer and would also notify you of other title gaps that may exist further back in the record that may need to be addressed.
The most expensive way is to hire an attorney in Oklahoma. He will essentially do everything a Title Examiner will, with the option to actually cure any other defects on your property. Attorneys are typically the most expensive route.
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Agreed we have had several call about our mineral rights beneath the level in section 8 that another company already drills on. We are in negotiations with them about selling way beneath that level. Anyone ever come across this happening to them
Very good information, thank you! Since I just recently even became aware of the mineral rights, I’m certainly in no hurry to do anything with them. Better to proceed slowly! I will certainly check into your suggestion. Thank you so much. Glad I ran across this forum.
Dhawk, Many of those old fields are barely hanging on. They want to buy those old leases at the 1/8th, shut in the wells and then lease them again at much higher royalties and drill the horizontal wells into the shales below. Echo is historically a land company (spin off from Chesapeake). I expect that someone else who is a drilling company will actually end up being the operator, such as Continental, Casillas, Citation or Roan who knows how to drill. There is a lot of flipping going on for a profit behind the scenes. When someone offers to buy, they usually know more than the mineral owner, know that they will make a profit and will try to the lowest price they can get away with. Each family has to decide what is best for them, but one option is to not sell and get the royalties instead. Another option is to sell part and keep part-splitting the risk. Another option is to sell it all, but certainly ask for more than the initial offer. Remember that if you sell, you may have to pay capital gains tax and factor that in to your net gain.
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Thanks, M_Barnes for this explanation. Chevron recently sold the production from their waterflood activity to Stephens and Johnson. My family’s royalties now come from S&J. I assume S&J holds the rights because they are still producing. Most of our mineral rights are in Sections 24 and 25 T1S R5W. The leases are very old and are at 1/8 royalty. I doubt that there are any depth clauses. To my knowledge there is no horizontal drilling there. Would it be possible for S&J to sell rights for deeper drilling to those who are doing horizontal exploration? Would this be practical?