Mineral rights owner who is totally confused

West Virginia Mineral Rights Doddridge County, WV
21

Yep, they are in Bridgeport Wv.

Antero Resources Appalachian Corporation

P.O. Box 410

Bridgeport, Wv. 26330

That's the address we send paperwork to and everyone who we have dealt with or has called said they were out of. I have even been told that our agents were the most professional the kindest they have. I guess I need to refrain from taking their calls on Mondays and Fridays and see if that helps. When I here from them about the amendment to our leases I may post the amendment on this site. I haven't decided that yet.

Here is the link to the Govt. site, pertaining to the mineral owners and oil companies, when they try to obtain mineral interest through court action. http://www.legis.state.wv.us/WVCODE/ChapterEntire.cfm?chap=55&art=12A

22

Thank you. Im going to have the will filed with the Doddridge county clerks office. I just have to get a certified copy of will from Harrison county court house and mail it to the Doddridge county clerks office with an explaination as to what i need done and why. Should have that filed by Friday at latest. Lets see them file a claim now for Lost Heir. Im ready for em.

23

Thank you DT. that was very informative. i made a copy of that so i will have it if i need to refer to it.

DT said:

Yep, they are in Bridgeport Wv.

Antero Resources Appalachian Corporation

P.O. Box 410

Bridgeport, Wv. 26330

That's the address we send paperwork to and everyone who we have dealt with or has called said they were out of. I have even been told that our agents were the most professional the kindest they have. I guess I need to refrain from taking their calls on Mondays and Fridays and see if that helps. When I here from them about the amendment to our leases I may post the amendment on this site. I haven't decided that yet.

Here is the link to the Govt. site, pertaining to the mineral owners and oil companies, when they try to obtain mineral interest through court action. http://www.legis.state.wv.us/WVCODE/ChapterEntire.cfm?chap=55&a...

24

Well I tried hard to work with the woman and come up with a contract that we both could agree on. She doesnt want to meet me half way. She told me today that since we cant come up with an agreement that she would send me a final notice and mark me as a hold out. All i wanted was an Indemnification clause, a no production clause and i wanted the MARKET ENHANCEMENT(GROSS PROCEEDS) CLAUSE taken out. I told her i didnt want ANYTHING taken out of my royaltys. I didnt see that as unreasonable. She said there was no way that would be taken out. She stated that it was a typical part of all the leases Antero uses. I pointed out that from what i have read lately that the clause was simply a fancy way of rewording the production clause. She got bent out of shape and said WELL, UNTIL A COUPLE WEEKS AGO YOU DIDNT EVEN KNOW ABOUT THIS CONTRACT UNTIL I CONTACTED YOU. I told her she did not contact me. My brother contacted me about this. My sister told her my name address and phone number a month before. but the lady never got in touch with me until i contacted her about the quitclaim papers my brother gave me. I am just about to give up and say i dont care if i get a lease or not. I told her today I would contact Bridgeport office and talk to someone there. She told me i had to talk to a guy she named and only him and that i had to call for an appointment. This sounded fishy to me so i dont know if i should or not. How do i know she isnt setting me up. Should i just let it go or should i actually call her bluff and see what happens when i go to the Antero office? I just dont know what to do.

25

Keep trying. I think the landmen are being told go so far and no farther, be stubborn. So they are. But until recently (a few years ago) nobody was taking expenses out of the royalty portion. This is a new thing. If you have to you can call Denver. So start with Bridgeport.

26

Should i get an attorney? I really cant afford one with my income but if worse comes to worse. Any idea what one cost or who i should get? I live in the clarksburg wv area.

27

Contact Kyle Nuttall on this forum. He is reasonable and has had lots of dealings with Antero and other companies in the area. A few hundred at the most if you don't need him to negotiate for you, I think. Others might have other suggestions.

If you have to compromise, better to have no deductions than many other things. Royalty goes on, while the bonus is a one time thing. Of course, the "no deductions" is about the last thing the company wants to give, for the same reasons.

28

Charlene, go back and read the posts I wrote at the beginning of your listing. You are letting these people get to you. You do not owe them anything. I would contact Antero in Bridgeport and tell them this lady is very rude and you do not wish to deal with her. When another agent gets back with you at a later date, get an email address from them. About once a week email them and tell them you want to get this negotiating going forward. Keep those emails and any you may have now. That way you will have a record of trying to negotiate. You may want to contact Kyle at some point but, right now you need to stand your ground and get rid of that lady who has no business dealing with anyone. You are at the beginning of this lease stuff. Most of us have been going back and forth for some time. They figure if they hassle you and frustrate you enough you will sign just to get them out of your life. Car salesmen attitude is what they are all about. If Antero refuses to replace her then tell her to put all of her correspondence in letter form from now on.

29

Thank you Nancy and DT. I will call Antero. Been sick so couldnt do much but am going to get this taken care of. No one should be treated this way and Im tired of being her victim.

I did go back and read all you wrote DT. I have been spent hours reading alot of whats posted on here and found some wonderful advice. Im going to wait til i call Antero before i contact a lawyer but if they refuse to do anything about Ms Lucy then I see no alternative but to get one. Will let you know how it goes. Thanks again. :)

30

I have been dealing/talking to the Antero office in Bridgeport. Everyone there has been very helpful. I have signed a Lease Modification. The Well or wells are suppose to begin drilling in Sept. of this year.

Arnold L Stuart said:

Charlene, First thing Monday call Antero Resources in Denver 303-357-7310, lay in on the line with them, no one should be treated as you have. Other members of this forum will have a lot more to say on this matter, and will offer more suggestions I am sure. I have signed several leases with Antero and have always been treated with respect. The rep you are dealing is crude and in my opinion should lose her job. Hang tough on this one.

31

Called Antero office in Bridgeport Thursday like Arnold and DT suggested and talked with them about what was going on. Told him what the landsman i had was like and that i didn't like her lying, threatening and her attitude about things. He asked what my main concern was and i told him it was the the wording of the clauses. I wanted it put in the lease that i wanted NOTHING taken out of my royalties. I explained when i told the landsman that she went off on me and all but called me stupid and told me that listening to people in a forum wasn't the smartest thing i could do if i wanted a lease that would give me money. After all it was just a little pocket change to buy myself a few little odds and ends. I said the bottom line was this..... i wanted a lease that said nothing taken out of my royalties, 800 signing bonus and 18% royalties. He said he didn't see anything wrong with that and if i wanted to i could come in and sign the lease that day. I told him to mail it to me and i'd read it. IF it was what he said than id make an appointment and come in and sign in front of him. BUT, today i got the lease to read and don't like the feeling i'm getting. Nothing in the wording has changed except the last page. this page was attached to the back of the lease. it has the following typed on it stating.........

Attached to and made a part of that certain oil and gas lease dated the 20th of June by and between charlene crutchfield as lessors and antero resources corporation, as lessee to wit:

The following provisions shall supplement the printed provisions of the lease and in the event of any conflict between the following supplemental provisions and the provisions of the printed lease, the addendum shall prevail and control..

1. All references herein made to the ONE-EIGHT(12.5%) ROYALTY ARE HEREBY AMENDED TO READ NINE-FIFTIETHS(18%) PERCENT ROYALTY.

Gross Proceeds Clause

It is agreed between the lessor and the lessee that, notwithstanding any language herein to the contrary, all oil, gas or other proceeds accruing to the lessor under this lease or by state law shall be without deduction, directly or indirectly, for the cost of producing, gathering, storing, separating, treating, dehydrating, compressing, processing, transporting, and marketing the oil, gas or other products produced hereunder to transform the product to marketable form.

is this a trick or is it legit? why not take out the post production clause they have in the contract and put this in instead of putting it on a separate sheet of paper attached to the back.

anyone that can answer please do. I don't know, maybe from dealing with Ms Lucy so much I'm just skeptical about things. I don't wanna sign something only to have the last page go missing and end up screwed out of what I was suppose to get. know what i mean? My husband said i should make them type a new contract putting page numbers on the pages like page 1 of 5, page 2 of 5 and so on so that if page 5 comes up missing i would know something was screwy. would that be smart? I know I ask alot of stupid questions but i have learned A LOT from reading and asking questions in the forum. I truly thank all of you for your help. It means a lot.

32

Having an addendum like that is a normal thing to do and really means what it says it does, it takes the place of something in the lease. I think they don't want to redo a lease; it is cheaper and easier to add that addendum page. They will probably file a Memorandum of Oil and Gas Lease instead of the lease; that is the standard way to do when they make any changes. They don't want anyone else to know that they gave you those terms.

I think that Gross Proceeds clause is their standard one (when they offer it), but I had heard that they were trying to get away from that now. Good that they are offering it.

About not signing something until you are sure it is all there, just make sure that you get plenty of time to look at the lease they give you to sign.

33

Charlene, they put a gross proceeds on the table and then pulled it from our negotiations.. The problem is they can still take money by other means. If they are wanting to agree with your request then why didn't they just say no cost or no deductions instead of trying to add loopholes to the clause? The why is, because they have a way to reword everything and hope you do not catch it. They are like bait and switch artists. Google the gross proceeds clause and you will be able to read several topics on it.

When they talk about at the well or wellhead you need to understand that the product is not ready for sale at that point. They have to get it enhanced to get it ready to sell and to the point of sale. That's where they want to charge the mineral owner. You pay for all the work done and they sell the product sometimes to one of their affiliates which is a bad deal also. Read as much as you can about this also.

34

Charlene, as far as Market Enhancement Clause. It is not uniform across state laws. So far in WV most decisions reference Tawney v. Columbia Natural Resources which seems to rule that any production/post production costs can be subtracted from the royalty interest only if identified in the lease. This is another reason to hire legal representation. The wording of the ruling "identify with particularity the specific deductions the lessee intends to take from the lessor's royalty" seems pretty clear, but I prefer to have an attorney figure out what applies and what doesn't.