My two brothers and I are brand new to the Mineral Rights scene. We first learned that we owned mineral rights in Kingfisher County (NW4 of Section 13) when we received an offer (on July 31st) to purchase our portions of a 10-acre parcel. Four days later, we received another offer. The better of the two offered $36,000 for the 10 acres, of which we each own about 0.6 of an acre. The two prospective buyers state that they have done the necessary research to establish that we, along with several related heirs, are the owners of this 10-acre parcel.
If we sell, we would each receive roughly $2,000. If we do not sell, it looks like we will be pooled, as we understand that a proposal to pool will go before an Oklahoma court in the near future.
We have no experience in matters like this, so we need some advice. What do we need to know?
A few hours ago, I also posted a more detailed summary on the home page of the Mineral Rights Forum website regarding the offers we received and the questions in our mind after having done some research. If you would, please check this out. The post is titled "New Mineral Rights Owners."
First, the offer is extremely low, you are likely to get more offers, do NOT sign anything or agree to anything. In Kingfisher we were offered $6,500 per acre and others have said they've been offered as much as $15,500. Now, none of these offers mean that anyone is going to pay that much but it gives you some idea of what is being offered. As many others have advised me, don't be in any hurry to sell. In your case I'd say find out if there are any existing wells in the area of your minerals. Have you received any communications from an oil company showing that they are looking to drill, have you actually received any notice of a pooling order, etc. If you own the mineral rights then you will be receiving some notifications from the court, so I'd say just sit back and wait. I'm sure you will get plenty more advice from people who are much more knowledgeable that I. The big thing is don't make any quick decisions, first offers are usually extremely low and the oil business moves slowly, very slowly so don't take a few thousand dollars for something that could net you thousands of dollars per month for many years!
Replying to Beth: My discussion is showing a reply by "Beth" yesterday, but evidently it did not post on the discussion list. Please post it again, if you so desire!
what township and range are you in? offers vary wildly depending on location, SW Kingfisher - very high, NW Kingfisher, probably pretty low. SE Kingfisher - medium, NE kingfisher - depends on how far north and east.