I am new to the forum and joined to find out more about what we should entitled to in royalties. We leased with Antero almost five years ago and up to recently did not know we had production of three wells. We did not receive a DO on these so did not think any production was taking place.We tried calling WVA officebut no return call. Do we need to try Denver next or look for an attorney.Not sure where to go next.
DENVER IS THE PLACE TO CALL>3033577310 GETS YOU INTO THE MAIN OFFICE. Note, just because wells have been drilled does not mean that they are in the Analysis (Denver) hands. I have waited 6-7 years after signing lease before Do.
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Thank you for your reply. So it stays local for years before going to Denver? The leases will be up for renewal in August of this year. when we call Denver do we ask when we will receive a DO? Thanks for your help.
When you call Denver , make sure that you have the well #, they will ask you for a Customer # (you may not have at this time), they will ask you what County, District, and if you have a map#and Partial #, Most of these answers will be on the face of your lease, It usually takes 4-6 Working days for them to get back to you.
we tried that locally and we never got a return call. Hopefully, Denver will do better. Thanks again. We will call.
Well, I sent an email last Friday to Denver and just got a response.
“6-5-9 - non-producing unit - signed 9/17/14 6-8-p/o 42 - non-producing unit - signed 8/7/14 2-5-2, 3, 14, 4 - non-producing unit - 8/5/2013
6-12-p/o 29, p/o 30; 6-8-p/o 42 - Walnut unit - non-producing - signed 7/7/14 - This unit falls right above the Nickers and the Farrow unit. The Title Opinion doesn’t reflect that you have an ownership in the Nickers nor the Farrow unit as the “part of” portion flows in the Walnut unit.”
So we get nothing. I need to find a map.
Try this (from the Assessor’s office of Doddridge) [http://www.landmarkgeospatial.com/doddridgegis/]
Try this Doddridge online records and use the Description search, put in those as searches e.g. “Farrow Unit” The last page of a declaration of pooling has a plat (map) of where the well goes. There are some more steps to take, will reply later.
Thank you
I guess you have to pay to print any documents from the Doddridge County website because I could not get them to print.
Yes I think you have to get an account. A friend of mine has such an account and can download and print documents. I have a similar one for Ritchie County database. I haven’t tried to set up a Doddridge account but the Help section says that accounts must be approved by the county, probably the Doddridge county clerk. Here is another way, somewhat complicated, to find information about the Units that you mentioned. WV Permits Search Go to the above site and you can select the county, and for the well number put in the unit name. This will get you a listing of the different things related to wells (really permits for wells ) in that unit. You have to click the “Retrieve” button. I have kept hitting “enter” and been disappointed too many times! The result will have a number to the left side of the screen starting with 47017XXXX. This is the API number (American Petroleum Institute, I think). If you want to see whether the well has produced, you can to to this site WV Well search database and use either the same type search as for the permits, or put in the specific API number. This information is updated once a year. Data is required to be submitted to the office by the end of March for the previous year (Marcy 30 2018 for the 2017 production information). A way to find a different kind of map (plat) is to go to this site: WV Geological Survey Downloads site selected for Doddridge and search for the API number. This map usually has the tax map and parcel number listed for the various parcels. You can compare that with the first link I gave you (from the Doddridge Assessor’s office). The Downloads site has free downloads. This is a lot of information, and some of these databases are not as friendly to use as others but it is worth getting acquainted with all this information.
One more good website to know about, a part of the WV Office of Oil and Gas site WV Office of Oil and Gas site Go to that page, find General Information, click that and find Weekly Reports. Each week on Monday (usually) they have the new listing of permits and other information. They are required to have proposed wells listed so that people in the area can make comments, sort of like zoning for localities. The Permits section is listed by county. Since you know your District, tax map and parcel, you can keep an eye out for other permits that might include your acreage. One last place is the interactive map WV Office of Oil and Gas interactive map You either can zoom in on an area, or (easier if you have this info) enter an API number. This does not have tax map information but does have geographical info. If you see the API number you are searching (for horizontal wells it should be a long red line), and if it is part of what looks sort of like a star with beams going out of two sides, you can see what else is in the area. In your case you know the wells you are NOT included in so you can look around and see what is close, then look that number (s) up in the permit list and see if this is just a proposed permit, or how far along it has come. Spud has something to do with the beginning of drilling; I am not sure exactly what that means. However, if you don’t see Spud you know it has not been started in the drilling process. They have water plans and site reclamation plans and lots of other things to get approved before they can drill. Hope that was at least mostly clear, if long-winded! If you have a question, ask. Either I or some others here can probably answer.
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Nancy, thanks so much for all the good information. I did try to go into the maps today, but didn’t do very well. Now that you gave me additional tips I will try again. I am thinking that the “title opinion” may be more clarification on how we inherited the MR, but that may be wishful thinking on my part. I’ll try research more tomorrow. Thanks again.
One feature on that website with the tax map information: it has listing of the surface owner and the deed book and page (or sometimes will book or another document) citation for how the surface owner acquired the interest. This is a way to start tracing the title. Doddridge’s documents database is not complete online but you can get a lot of information that way. If you start with the current owner, look at the deed listed, you probably will find where the grantor (the one selling) acquired the tract, in an earlier deed book listing. Keep going as far as you can. Look for phrases such as “all grantor’s interest” or “reserving the oil and gas interests”. These can be important. When (if) you find the document where the first separating of the oil and gas happens, you probably will be seeing one of your relatives. For a legal title opinion, of course you need an attorney, but many attorneys have title researchers prepare the information, then examine the documents and certify the title. My sister is an attorney and told me how to do this, and it can be like a treasure hunt.
Another interesting feature on the website with the tax map information is the Layers area, on the right side. Click on Oil and Gas Wells and you can see their location, but not the API numbers. You have to compare maps to find that out which is a skill that can be developed. Good luck!
Nancy, thanks again. I tried to match up maps yesterday from well locations, but it’s hard to figure out where our parcel joins up with others in the area. I now understand the true value of a title opinion. I know some of this may go back as far as the early 1900’s. Not unusual I imagine. My question/concern is does the title come in to play at the top of the well, bottom of the well or where the horizontal part runs through the property? Still on a quest to learn more and have more knowledge so we get what is rightfully ours. Can’t thank you and others who have been so helpful. Oh by the way, Doddridge County is not ready for anyone to sign up for accounts, but are working on it.s
Thanks for the info on Doddridge accounts. It will be helpful for a lot of people when they have it available. The interest in oil and gas is important for any activity below the surface involving oil and gas. For a horizontal well, the land that it runs under, and a certain distance out from the well, are involved. For the well pad area, where they set up drilling equipment and things like that, it is surface owners who are involved. Sometimes it is the same people who own both sets of rights.
I finally found some figures on my wells and its really funny. they started drilling Oct 25, 2017 and start producing in march of 2018. Yet I still havent heard from Antero. I dont hear on the phone but my husband has called them last time was in July. The lady told him we should be hearing something from them soon but here it is December and still nothing. Is that unusual? The 2 wells are producing great. combined they have taken 4,036,619 mcfg gas and 16,441 barrels of oil. i know i sound impatient but seems like every time my husband calls they say we shoud hear soon but never do. had a small problem in Oct of 2017 with wrong mailing address but the lady had me send it threw email. said it would be recorded. im just worried she didnt fix it and things will take longer. Denver office is where he calls. Bridgeport said they didnt have any info. Thought that was kinda funny. But I just wanna know whats going on and when they will send DOs out or if they already did and I didnt get mine.
Have they not paid you royalties yet?
Call 303 357 7376 (Tina Maxon) is in the division order section. She will probably have you leave a voice mail. She was very helpful when I was working on our interests. Have all the names, places and numbers pertaining to your wells on hand.
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Our experience on 3 different wells is they are required to report the previous year’s production by spring and then the production is made public about about June. So we received DOs shortly after the previous year’s production was made public. DOs in July, August and Sept if I remember correctly then back payment for royalties before year end plus a little interest for “late payment”.
Finally got a response from them on Friday. They said the DO’s were sent out to everyone but that mine came back 2 times as wrong address. They had my New address cause i not only sent it registered mail to them i sent it email to them also. They said they sent the DO’s out last of Oct, middle of Nov and again first of Dec. After my husband got pissed and let her know it she said she would send the DO’s out again to the right address and even sent them to my email. Once they get them back she said I should start getting my first check sometime late in Jan. Im not holding my breathe. They say one thing but do another. I told my husband at the time i sent the change of address back in July that they would say they never got it, even though i sent it registered. They couldnt dispute the returned green card with pictures of what was in envelop when i mailed it at post office. Especially since i had pictures of Postmaster putting letter in envelop and sealing it, putting label on. Husband laughed at me for taking pics but they came in handy just as i figured they would. Hopefully things will get straightened out and I’ll get what i should get. Thank you everyone for all your help.
Glad to hear they are getting your things straightened out…you hope. They sometimes tend to not send statements out also. Computer glitch according to them. They are only human and good help these days is hard to find.
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