Am learning the business after inheriting a royalty interest portfolio… Operator is currently drilling a hz well in McClain County. Family receives ongoing royalty payment - which is a good thing. Reviewing the lease history indicates a large break in operations (well drilled in the 60’s, abandoned, wellbore repurposed to salt water injection by new operator, then re-completed to an uphole producing horizon). But no record of leasing the minerals by new operator (there are 2 un-executed mineral lease offers in the file for the hz well). I called operator and was informed that the interest is NPRI, therefore all negotiations are handled by an executor.
Our file has no record of who the executor is or what deals may have been cut. I want to fill in the gaps in this file and make sure that our interests are being looked after.
Will there be records of this agreement in Purcell? How should I proceed?
It SHOULD be filed of record in the county clerk’s office. Don’t get a party that holds the executive rights with an Executor of an Estate.
You will look for your predecessor’s name in title to determine what interest they own. The party with the executive rights generally has no obligations to the NPRI parties whatsoever. The NPRI holder’s interest is subject to the terms of oil & gas lease that is executed by the owner of those executive rights.
Thank you for the reply. I don’t have the file in-hand but I clearly recall that a previous entity quit-claimed this parcel (and two others) - and spun them out to a half-dozen entities at a lesser working interest.
When I visit the county clerk, what information will I be asking for (land legal description, our entity name, the entity that quit-claimed)?
Are NPRI owners entitled to any share of bonus payments? How do you know if you are even being treated fairly?
You will give the clerk your legal description and she will show you the index book for that section that will contain all of the books/pages of all legal documents pertaining to that section, done chronologically. You can work down the index following your particular legal description and looking for the name(s) you are trying to look information for. You will take that information and then look up the documents.
(You may be able to look up a good portion of what you are needing by going to okcountyrecords.com. It is free to look but costs to print documents.)
You will have to review the actual document to determine if the NPRI party(s) share in bonus or not. The document will address that situation.
Again, the NPRI owner is subject to the terms of the lease.