Mewbourne recently took over our original family leases from the 1920s from Devon. They had been upheld all these years due to small production from 4 vertical wells we have ORRI in Section 27 T18S R28E. Shortly after they acquired the leases Mewbourne drilled 2 new horizontal wells which we have starting receiving royalties on and they have 4 others in the works from section 27 to 26. None of our family has a copy of the old lease or understands this stuff very well so I contacted Mewbourne, whose owner relations were very responsive, and they sent me some snippets of what they had. I am pretty unclear on how horizontal well royalties are allocated. I do know that we were force pooled for the new wells and that they are planning to do the same with the new ones. I don’t think any of us were notified. Along with the snippets they sent a Divion Order to sign with my decimal interest which seems pretty low…
From the snippets
Lease No. 1. as to the W/2: N/2 NE/4: SE/4 NE/4: W/4 SE/4 & SE/4 SE/4 of section 27
Lease No 2. as to the NE/4 SE/4 & SW/4 NE/4
of a 240 acre tract
My questions are:
Are these property descriptions complete?
And what exactly do our leases cover in relation to the new wells. Is there an easy way to find a complete copy of this old lease?
WOODFORD 27 26 STATE COM #526H|526H|27|18S|28E|O|
WOODFORD 27 26 STATE COM #528H|528H|27|18S|28E|G|
WOODFORD 27 26 STATE COM #611H|611H|27|18S|28E|O|
WOODFORD 27 26 STATE COM #614H|614H|27|18S|28E|O|
WOODFORD 27 26 STATE COM #616H|616H|27|18S|28E|O|
WOODFORD 27 26 STATE COM #618H|618H|27|18S|28E|G|
Lots of other question but I have found this forum to be extremely helpful with starting to understand how some of this stuff works. Any and all feedback and advice on anything pertaining to our situation greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Thank you for responding,
I did a deep dive and I think I may have found where to get copy of original lease to answer those questions. Does this look right? I will do my due diligence and post again once I have those answers. Going to contact county recorder.
By Assignment dated March 24, 1924, recorded as Assignment No. 45, State Abstract, Martin Yates, Jr., et ux assigned to Geo. C. Xxxx all interest in Lease No. 1, as to the
SE/4 SE/4 of Section 27.
By Oil and Gas Lease Agreement dated May 24, 1924, recorded in Book 9, Page 494, Eddy County Records, George C. Xxxx, Trustee agreed that Lease No. 1, as to the SE/4 of
SE/4 of Section 27, is owned as follows:
(5/160). 3. By Agreement dated April 22, 1926, recorded in Book 10, Page 216, Eddy County Records,
Oh jeez ok. Laugh. That is some hard to read 100 year old typing/wording.
Looks like George took a 1/8th ORRI in 40 acres in SE4SE4 of Sec 27 in 1925. On behalf of all the members. That’s about all that I got. I’m not sure if you only have some portion of that ORRI in that 40 acres or what, the"snippets" descriptions just made my head hurt.
Ask Mewbourne what % ORRI they show you owning and in which tracts. The DO ideally should have some math in it. The two active producers (528h) and (618h) are dedicated to 240 acres comprising the S2S2 of Sec 27 and the S2 of the SW4 of Sec 26. So if you have an ORRI in 40 acres in the SE4 SE4 of SEC 27, you would have that ORRI% divided by 6 in those two wells.
99% of the time the DO is correct. So if it seems small that may just be the deal.
I am not sure why an owner of an ORRI would be pooled since you are not the owner of a right to drill. ORRI is only a revenue interest. Was your address listed in the pooling? Going further, you will need to determine the unit spacing and tract participation related to the pooling in order to start the confirmation of your interest. This can get rather detailed, so it is important that you collect all information prior to any calculation. Contact me if you require more help.
There was a forced pooling. Let’s take the leap of faith and assume that “we were force pooled” could mean that there was a forced pooling that included this acreage. We (the OP) get drug along in the forced pooling with whatever choices the owner of the lease our ORRI is attached to makes. In this case, the lease is with Mewbourne, Mewbourne drilled the wells, Mewbourne is duh participating, the ORRI folks are getting paid. IMO the forced pooling has no effect on anything for the OP, but yes, there was one and this just seems to be semantics.
As with every well in NM, those wells are dedicated to some acres. As I mentioned above, the two that are online and are paying are dedicated to the S2S2 of Sec27 and the S2 of the SW of Sec 26. Those 240 acres. Pretty plainly written out in the NMOCD permit. That should be how folks are getting paid.
Again, I would call Mewbourne and ask for them to explain what ORRI % they show the OP owning in what parts of those 240 acres. And see if that matches up with one thinks that they should have inherited from whatever has gone down in the past 90 odd years.
Really appreciate the help unpacking all this stuff. From what I can gather the two leases cover the entire section 27 tract? However, I am uncertain still what we own in that tract. I believe it is only 20 acres or 22 acres of SE/4 ( if George Bucks shares were given to the “successors”) of the 240 of the 640. Where do we find the names of the people on the lease and compulsory pooling, affidavit of heirs? Confusing. The reason I ask is we are also Rascoe’s but have lost touch with most of that side of the family. Bertha Fields is Charles.Y Rascoe’s cousin (we think.) Trying to connect the dots. Want to either return the rights/notify others in the family or claim them if possible. It looks like there is a large portion of these royalties that are in limbo. Our minuscule orri they have calculated has yielded some pretty big checks in the last months.
I requested the items that you suggested from Mewbourne., including the DOTO. They have yet to respond. Initially,they said they don’t have a copy of the leases. This is the entirety of what they have sent to us.
The Materials Examined did not include succession of title out of the above listed parties,
but such did include Heirship Affidavits and Conveyances by parties who we assume are heirs and
successors of the above listed parties. For purposes of crediting this Opinion, the ORRI reserved
by Geo. C. Buck, Trustee is credited as such, but is owned by the successor to the above parties.
Below are the provided Heirship Affidavits and Conveyances by parties who we assume are heirs
and successors of the above listed parties:
Heirship Affidavit for Bertha Iva Loewen, recorded in Volume 47, Page 188, Eddy
County Records
