I don’t understand anything I’m reading here … ok so I have Rights in Eddy county nm … section 31 township 21S Range 27E … what do I have here … like is it worth keeping how do I see how much it’s worth and so on PLEASE HELP ME
Oh, after posting, i see my tabulated array of sections in a township appears just as a long line of text. Here is how the sections in a township are numbered:
Top or northerly row: 6 5 4 3 2 1
second row 7 8 9 10 11 12
third row 18 17 16 15 14 13
fourth row 19 20 21 22 23 24
fifth row 30 29 28 27 26 25
sixth row 31 32 33 34 35 36
So, again, Section 31 is in the southwest corner of every standard township.
Are you saying that you don’t understand sections and township and range? Each township, if it’s a “regular township”, is a square that is 6 miles by 6 miles, for a total of 36 square miles. Within each township lie 36 sections, each section being 1 mile by 1 mile. The squares are numbered in an array that is a bit counter-intuitive: 6 5 4 3 2 1 7 8 9 10 11 12 18 17 16 15 14 13 19 20 21 22 23 24 30 29 28 27 26 25 31 32 33 34 35 36 So, if you start in the upper NE corner of a township, and go southerly, you would go across sections 1, 12, 13, 24, 25, 36.
Now to back up to more of an overview, the array of townships are also numbered. I own in Lea County, which is next to Eddy County NM, and the Township x South, Range y East is the identifier there too. The T x S identifier tells you how far north or south it is, whereas the R y E identifier tells you how far east or west it is.
So, you own the section that is the one-mile square in the SW corner a township known as T 21 S, R 26 E.
To the north of your section is Section 30 in T 21 S, R 27 E.
To the east of your section is Section 32 in T 21 S, R 27 E.
To the south of your section is Section 6 in T 22 S, R 27 E
To the west of your section is Section 36 in T 21 S, R 26 E.
I am a subscriber to DrillingInfo.com, so I mapped it. Your section is in the area of Carlsbad. Looks like there were a lot of leases. I haven’t checked permits or production.
You asked if your mineral rights are worth keeping. My personal philosophy is “never sell”. To evaluate, you would need to consider what percentage of the minerals you own, and under how large a surface tract. So maybe you own 10% under all of the section, or maybe under only 1/4 of the section, or maybe a much smaller or larger percentage. Do you know if you are leased or producing. . . Those would be factors that go into an estimation of value.
Hope this is helpful. Welcome to the forum! Many people here will help you! Reply with more questions, or start a new thread with a new question, whichever you think best. If you put “Eddy County NM” in your subject line, you’ll draw the attention of others who know that county. Maybe use subject “new owner, Eddy Co., NM” or something like that. Again, welcome!
Here is the land grid so you can see it. The title is for Oklahoma, but the western states were surveyed this way.
S-T-R Legal Land Descriptions in OK_Kletke-1.pdf (59.7 KB)
Eddy County can be very prolific, so do not consider selling until you understand exactly what you have. You might not want to sell then. The Mineral Help tab above is a good place to start. There is an Eddy county portion of the forum. Go to the Counties tab. Read everything you can there. Learn how to use the New Mexico Oil and Gas Commission site. Make sure that your name and address and a copy of your title documents are filed with the clerk of deeds in the Eddy County courthouse.
http://ocdimage.emnrd.state.nm.us/imaging/WellFileCriteria.aspx
We cannot tell you how much it is worth. It depends upon whether it is leased or not, has active wells or pending wells, etc. Take it slowly and learn as you go. If you inherited, ask the executor if it was appraised at death. You really do need to know that amount for future tax purposes if you sell. Getting information closer to the date of death is much easier than ten years down the road. Ask lots of questions. Make a file and write everything down that you find out.
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Welcome Erika,
Not sure exactly what your questions are, but I have been in a similar state of confusion when I was first introduced to this stuff.
It is an address to locate a parcel of land. Each parcel of land in the west was gridded out in parcels of land measuring one mile by one mile “sections”, which corresponds to 640 acres. These are numbered 1 though 36 to form what is called a “township.” You can read more about it here: Section (United States land surveying) - Wikipedia The U.S. Bureau of Land Management maintains a web site that allows you to find the original patent (the first deed) and, often, subsequent owners. You simply put in the address: Search - BLM GLO Records
I don’t own any rights in NM, so I cannot speak to what that state might also have. My parcels are in ND and that state maintains a website that allows owners to research drilling activity and other details.
You can just search using the details you have - when I searched in my browser I immediately found there is a Mineral Rights Forum on this very section:
Section 31 21s 27e Eddy County
Hope this helps get you started,
Greg
What you own is in the city of Carlsbad. There is a company called Santos or SPC that has permitted wells in that section. They have not been great at getting wells drilled. Some of that is that it’s not easy to get residential areas leased (lots of 0.25 acre lots and not big ranches etc). Some of it is that they are not much of an oil company.
How much its worth is totally dependent on how much you have. Which we don’t know. And you may not know. But that is the first thing to figure out. How many acres do you have.
Just guessing, its probably worth about $8-10k for each mineral acre that you have. So, if you have 20 acres, then party. If you have 0.16 acres, then cancel the caterer.
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Thank you everyone… so much Information one little brain … wow you guys are all so helpful thank you so much … I’ll have to get my paperwork out to see how many acres I have … but I meant to mention this is an oil and gas lease …. That’s what all my paperwork says anyhow !!! Thanks everyone!
We inherited surface + mineral acres, were clueless, began receiving low-ball offers, this forum was indispensable. First, we determined our location & areal size. Secondly, we downloaded oil & gas production volume of “offset” wells drilled within 5 miles in recent 3-4 years. Your own section may have producing wells, our section was virgin. We estimated royalties and well profitability to applying recent prices to analogue offset wells’ O&G volume. Operators drill if they can break even (“payback”) in 6-12 months after paying out 25% royalties & severance tax. Horizontal wells (10,000’ or 2 miles) cost approx. $7-$9 million.
It is easy evaluating Texas offset wells (est. royalties) using the state’s online GIS map, I don’t know New Mexico. Landmen have advanced software. Royalty investors try to buy cheap and know more than you, but I gleaned some useful info from them by asking numerous questions, sometimes calling them back with additional questions even when I knew we weren’t selling. Good luck. If you have spare time it may be fun learning your asset, which geologic formations are profitable, your operator’s long term plan for your pooled unit, etc. If your unit is already producing, ask the operator to give you a copy of their Division Order Title Opinion, which computes how many royalty acres you own.
Erika, to explain a little bit more: One section is one square mile and is also 640 acres of surface, known as 640 gross acres or 640 surface acres. If Grandfather owned 100% of the mineral interests under the section, died and left an undivided half interest to each of his two sons, then the two sons each own 50% of the minerals under the 640 gross acres. Each son is then said to own 320 net mineral acres, often abbreviated as nma’s. So for example, perhaps you own 50% of the minerals under all of Section 31, or 320 nma’s. That would be a very good holding. In my family, the ancestor acquired a lot of small interests, and there has been some fractionalization as the mineral interests were passed thru generations, so I have some tracts where I own as few as 3 nma’s under 320 gross acres, which does not give me much bargaining power when a lease offer comes in.
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