I have been in negotiations with a land company & Chesapeake regarding leasing mineral interest in Carter County for a year and a half. The mineral interest is currently in probate (I am the executor) and the land company has made me jump through every imaginable hoop possible and I still do not have fully executed leases.
This week I received checks from Chesapeake for pooling in the section they want to lease. Being pretty much a novice I'm not exactly sure what this means and how does receiving these checks affect the leasing with Chesapeake?
I'm not sure I totally understand what is going on in this case either. What location is this (section township and range).
Sec. 6 1S 3W. I called the land company and as usual they will have to check into this and see what's going on. I am very hesitant to deposit these checks until I know exactly what it is for since as I said, I do NOT have signed leases with them.
You should have seen a pooling order in Feb. I would say you have been force pooled. Because you were actively engaged with them during the process, I'm not sure what the options really are. As executor you should have been able to lease.
http://imaging.occeweb.com/imaging/OAP.aspx Search on case number 201106991 and you can see the order if you don't have it. Are they trying to pay you $350 and acre and 1/8? Paragraph 4 forces that for those that fail to elect. I'm not sure that would be my choice. At a minimum I would be calling the OCC and hiring an attorney may be a necessity if they are trying to lock you into something you did not want.
Chesapeake is hard to deal with...their reputation is going south...did you respond to a pooling order? Did they offer to lease while the pooling order was in process? I wouldn't cash the checks yet that way it is not binding but if they are the operator they probably want to pool you vs. lease you but I'm not a pro at this. I am still learning too...there are some great people on here that will have answers for you...just sounds a little fishy to me.