Our right of way agreement was 10 feet down a fence line, (have that filed at the Courthouse) when i made it out to the lease it was clearly 10 feet out of the agreed right of way. I don't want to increase right of way to 20 ft . The operator is not returning my phone calls about the problem. Any ideas to solve this without going to an attorney? What are my rights?
Thanks Rick
Congratulations, I think you own a pipeline. I would consider leasing the pipeline and that you already have a customer.I think you should leave a message saying that if they will not return your calls, then you can't work anything out and you are left with no choice but to sell your pipeline to cover the costs of it's removal. I think at the very least you are within your rights to demand that the tresspassing pipeline be removed including surface damages. You might run some of these ideas past a lawyer. Good luck to you.
Thank you for your reply, . What would you think a lease fee would be? It's about 2000 feet long
You might check & see if your contract allows for them to have a temporary 20' working easment that would revert back to 10' on completion.
Rick Carter said:
Thank you for your reply, . What would you think a lease fee would be? It's about 2000 feet long
better read your contract careful cause we had a line go through my dads farm and they have gone through twice since. That contract said lin or lines in our case they were 50 feet apart and they can run as many lines as they want at that spacing and we cant do a thing. Good luck
Joel you are correct, Our Lease states 20 foot temporary reverting back to a 10 foot easement on completion.
I would assume completion would mean the lines are buried and the surface in restored is that correct?
Gary our lease states (1) pipes in our 10 foot easement , so far they have 4.
Rick
I think that it wouldn't matter if the pipeline was in a temporary easement, as they will not come in and scoot the pipeline over on the last day before the temporary easement expires and when it does expire, the line will be outside the permanent easement, which I believe should never be more than the width of the pipe, but it's too late to go back and negotiate that now.
Joel King said:
You might check & see if your contract allows for them to have a temporary 20' working easment that would revert back to 10' on completion.
Rick Carter said:Thank you for your reply, . What would you think a lease fee would be? It's about 2000 feet long
Good question, I think it would have to be less than the cost to just write it off and start over. The money is an important part, but you need a lawyer and a sharp oil and gas professional to make sure you are covered against any liability. I would suggest contacting Buddy Cotten to negotiate for you. I think the price would depend on the size and composition of the line, you wouldn't rent a luxury suv for the same price as a ford escort. On the matter of the number of lines and so forth, I think you need to contact a lawyer immediately. I have seen companies make colossal mistakes and when they have discovered the mistakes they have pushed through anyway thinking they will settle up in court later, drawing out a long and costly court battle and hoping you will run out of money or settle to be done with it. If they have not completed work, I would want a cease and desist order in place to make them stop before it's a done deal and all you could do is seek damages. I'd be seeing my lawyer in the morning.
Rick Carter said:
Thank you for your reply, . What would you think a lease fee would be? It's about 2000 feet long
Mr. Carter, have the pipeline people started talking to you yet ?