My wife’s family has leased property in both Tyler and Wetzel County WV. Some property was leased initially back in 2012 and then re-leased at least twice.
We are just now about to experience our first royalty after more than a decade of curiosity.
Finally, some of this property is being drilled (Peach Fork Unit 1H). My wife recently received division orders with a stated “decimal” interest of 0.00156002. Apparently that unit is producing, but we know nothing more.
We understand this decimal is her interest in the entire unit……however, the document does not state how many acres are in the unit.
That information or even the formula would be helpful in satisfying questions we have about another property currently being drilled.
Is there a publicly accessible site where well names, unit size and production figures are available?
Thanks in advance and my apologies for asking what may be a very rudimentary question.
You can find the DOU on Tyler Counties public record search at Official Records 230, Page 53. The long, skinny, individual well units we are accustomed to seeing in PA are now coming to WV.
The Peach Fork 1H unit contains 355.38 Gross Acres. I have interest in this unit as well.
Not the best time pricing wise to TIL a well. Hopefully prices start to rebound at some point.
Thank you. I am new to searching public records. Never had a need before. Would you have a link by any chance?
Congratulations on your ownership in the new well.
Its still so foreign to us, we aren’t quite certain if our “decimal” (0.00156002) is significant or laughably inconsequential. It sounds pretty small to me, but then again in the grand scheme of things we simply have no point of reference.
You can search the public records here. I am not in love with these new single leg units becoming common practice in WV. EQT is doing the same thing on interests I own in Wetzel County. Depending on how your tract is situated, you’ll likely gain additional income when more wells/units are added to this pad. Peach Fork 2H, Spili 1H & 2H, Cider 1h & 2H are all proposed/planned wells/Units on from this pad.
Thank you for taking the time to send those links. That is most helpful.
Our family also leases minerals in Wetzel county, although no drilling has taken place that we are aware of.
Is there a public document that breaks down the net acreage owned within a unit?
The “decimal” ownership is all we see and have no way to quantify that. In the Peach Fork 1H unit, we should have upwards of 20 to 30 net acres at least. If the unit is 350 (approx) acres, then 0.00156002 seems incredibly small unless I am missing the concept entirely.
It seems there must be a document that details owners net acreage in a unit?
The equation is generally net acres/actual spacing acres x royalty x percentage of your acreage in the spacing unit. You can ask the Division Order analyst how they calculated your decimal amount. If you are looking at the acreage on the lease, it is usually the gross acreage and not the net acreage. The DO analyst will have the title opinion and can tell you how many net acres you have.
The formula is generally as follows:
Decimal interest X Unit Gross Acres/ Royalty percentage. So assuming a lease totally of 1/8th you get- .00156002 X 355.38 divided by .125= 4.435 net mineral acres.
Personally I never consider mailbox money as inconsequential.
Thank you, and I agree with the “mailbox money” mantra. I’m one of those who will still bend over to pick up a nickel. LOL. So, I wasn’t being flippant. Definitely thankful.
Before I saw your reply, I had found a decimal equation on the Internet….
“Lessor’s acres in unit / total number of acres in unit x lessor’s ownership interest x lessor’s royalty percentage = lessor’s decimal interest”
That seems similar to and yet different than the formula above. Perhaps its simply different terminology. There always seems to be some value I do not have access to.
Currently I have:
Antero’s given decimal interest. 0.00156002
Peach Fork Unit 1H unit size 355.38
Royalty of 16%
My wife’s interest is 1/3
Since I do not know the net acres figure….I guessed at a few numbers and ran the equation. It worked out very close if our interest is 10.50 net acres.
10.50 / 355.38 = 0.02954584 x .333 = 0.00983876 x .16 = 0.0015742
As Chevy Chase famously said….”Umm, I was told there would be no math”. LOL
Should anyone see mistakes in my reading of this equation, please feel free to point them out.
Truly thankful and appreciative of those on the forum who endeavor to assist the newbies.
Can you tell me if the land man is under any obligation to inform you of the ownership path of an inherited royalty interest and then walk you through the calculation of your percentage ownership when you are asked to sign (and agree with) a division order?
There will be far more knowledgeable folks here to respond than I, however my own experience would suggest the “Landman” isn’t under many obligations of any sort.
In our experience, a division order simply appeared in the mail three days ago with instructions to sign and return within 30 days.
The landmen have nothing to do with this process and appear to have little knowledge about it at this point.
One of the forms was an acknowledgment on our part that the decimal interest was correct.
Bear in mind, virtually none of the information necessary to check that calculation were presented. Not the unit size, not our net acreage within the unit, not our royalty percentage, not even the formula utilized to arrive at the decimal.
Without being too harsh, I’d say if a mineral owner can be prompted to quickly certify the answer to a math problem without benefit of the values or formula used to arrive at that answer , then the “obligation” imposed on the lessors is minimal.
My guess is, the landman is under no obligation to explain much of anything to you.
In short- No. Mineral owners should keep track of what they own. Most states have Oil & Gas Commissions that should notify the owners of the process. If the owners can’t be found to provide them with that notice, it is most likely the fault of the mineral owner, not the Operator.
Hi and welcome to the forum! I usually cross out the word “certify” and write above that “acknowledge Antero’s calculation of” before signing a division order and sending it back. That way you have wiggle room if you later want to present evidence that their calculation is wrong.
The last time I attended a NARO convention in the Appalachia area, I listened in on WV attorneys saying that a Division Order is NOT required in WV in order to get paid for oil and gas. (At that time coalbed methane did require a DO.) They preferred to send in a letter in lieu of the DO. The letter gives an acknowledgement of the decimal calculation and the owner’s name and address. What they really want and need is the signed W-9. You can also request a minimum payment of $25 instead of their $100. The last statute I see quoted was WV ST s 22–21-17. You might want to check to see if there have been any updates.
It’s interesting that our family also has interests in the same wells (Peach Fork.1 & 2, Spili 1 & 2, and Cider Run 2)
71 net acres leased and included among those above wells. Divided among three family members.
So far though, we have only received division orders for Peach Fork 2H and that was in November. One family member received payment so far for September $384. One other family member hasn’t even received her division order in the mail yet.
The more we study this stuff, the less sense it makes. SMH
It’s interesting to see that all six of the laterals are producing already. We assumed only Peach Fork 2H was completed.
My interest was delivered via a relative who separated the mineral rights in the 1890s. I am actually trying to find other distant family members who are also descendants.
I have two aunts who received offers from Antero identical to mine and we negotiated our identical deals together.
They have not, thru Jan 1, 2024, received payments equivalent to mine which makes us think something strange is afoot (all of us are on direct deposit).
This is, for each of us, our first and only experience with the oil and gas exploration industry. It seems like there are quite a few players whose will take advantage of people like us; see my posts from March/April 2023.
Fortunately, I have developed good relations with my business lawyer over the last 20 years AND Kyle Nutall, WV oil lawyer who posts here regularly, provided excellent legal advice that helped to get the best deal I think we could have.
I cringe thinking about everyone who sell rights, established 100 years ago by a relative who foresaw the future AND did the right thing, for nothing.
If I may ask, when you received your division orders for the Peach Fork, Cider Run and Spili wells, were there multiple orders you returned at the same time for each well, or did you receive them staggered?
