Ownership and partition questions

My 5 NMA in Sec 15-T01S-R04W in Stephens receives royalty payments from a long active well-Alma North Penn Unit-thru Mack Energy. The commission has granted Continental Resources new drilling in this section and I believe a well has been spud already named Village. I think this well also involves Sec 10-T01S-R04W which is a section I do not own any interests. I assume any royalties to me generated by the Continental well would be under the terms of my lease held by Mack Energy. Does this work or does Continental have to negotiate a new lease with owners in Sec. 15 or will there be an agreement with Mack Energy? Also, should I ever decide to sell my Sec. 15 interests, would I able to break out the sale of only one of the wells and keep the other being they are operated by two different companies in the same section I own a piece of? Or would a sale have to involve both operations? Any help and advice is great appreciated.

Not having your original lease to look at, I can only speculate. If you were pooled for the old, old wells then a new lease or pooling might be needed for deeper zones. If your name is correctly filed in the county courthouse, then you would be contacted for the pooling. If you had a very old lease that went to all depths, then you are probably held by it. A lot of us are in that situation.

If you ever sold, the wording of the sales agreement would determine what you are selling. Some are by borehole, but most are probably by acres and would include all wells that you are spaced for.

The Village well spud on 3/12/22. https://imaging.occ.ok.gov/OG/Well%20Records/1DDC91D5.pdf The location of this first well to the far east of the two sections implies that they may consider more wells as they have left plenty of room to the west.

Many thanks, Ms. Barnes, for replying. I’ve searched my records from the past and am unable to find the origininal lease on this. The papers I do have indicate an original lease goes back to my Grandfather in the late 30’s or early 40’s. Perhaps the Duncan County Courthouse has it on file. I’m assuming going back that far the lease covered all depths and I’d be held by it. The website you referred me to for Village and your comments are very interesting. I’ve not been to this webpage before and it lays out great info (some of which is difficult for me to understand being a lay person in this field) for being a mineral owner and trying to stay as educated as I can. Thank you again, you’re the best! ON A SIDEBAR: Because I have a lot of emotional attachment to my interests in this section, I’ve enjoyed reading old letters between my father and grandfather from years ago and the history of all this. I probably lean towards not selling although current offers have been intriguing. My interests in Stephens County, Sec 17 especially, have received some pretty high offers lately for my acres. Regards, Robert J. Blair

I too, have found our family mineral ownership interesting. Our forefathers and mothers were good stewards of their rights.

In my experience, the more offers I get, the less inclined I am to sell because they know something that I need to find out. So far, my hanging onto our minerals has resulted in higher royalty payments than the offers were for. Every family is different and has different needs, so I certainly understand that there are times to sell. Having a good understanding of what you own and how valuable it is results in a better negotiated outcome if a sale is needed.

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