1 We had a lease with a company A that was assigned to another company B without meeting the notification specifications in our lease. 2 We received a ‘force majeure’ notification letter after the lease expired from Company B. The letter was dated on the day the lease expired and mailed via usps, making it impossible to have received it in a timely manner. 3 Two days later, before receiving the force majeure notification, we notarized a new lease with another company, D, which has been filed. The new company D, is waiting to pay until the issue is cleared up, even though the lease has been filed (understandable). 4 The company B, that claims they own our lease (although we were not notified of the lease assignment), joined into a joint operating agreement with Company C, the operator of the well who claimed force majeure. I do not know if this operating agreement was notarized before the date that the lease expired, or if that would be a factor. Does this joint operating agreement with the well operator, Company C, hold our minerals due to force majeure? The well in question has received an APD 7 1/2 months after the expiration of the lease. 5 The bonus money is a large enough to pursue the matter legally unless there are precedents that indicate we have no legal rights.
Will depend, obviously, on the wording of your force majeure clause, but I have seen a number of operators desperate to hold onto old lease until they can find a buyer trying to use force majeure to cover up self inflicted mistakes.