I have mineral rights in 154N 94W with most of my 2 sections under water. I have a horrible lease with HESS, they drilled 3 years ago and royalties have been on the decline for the last year. HESS doesn't seem to be interested in doing further drilling on other parts of my property and I am questioning whether or not to just sell off my rights before th well goes dry. Any insight would be appreciated.
I don't know what to tell you, the state has laid claim to acres under navigable waterways. Passing that hot potato to someone else, if the issue exists in your case could be the smart move of the century.
You didn't say exactly where you are and I don't want to out you, but on the single wells that Hess has drilled there are 2 in particular, one much better than the other drilled from section 17, one producing 243,473 barrels oil in 26 months up to March this year, the other has only produced 129,037 barrels oil in 22 months. If you are not going to but heads with the state over title and don't have an extreme pressing need for money at the moment, I would hang onto the acres. I believe that you will not suffer loss of value for some time, the oil in place remains there to sell if there are not the wells needed to produce it drilled.
I'm at 154N, 94W sections 19 and 30 and these sections are part of the states claim. Only a small portion of section 19 is above water. I might be more inclined to wait things out if my families lease with HESS wasn't so crummy. Thanks for the input.
It probably matters if you are under the low or the high producing well, also. The thing is, only people wanting to make a profit are going to offer to buy your minerals, and keeping the lease yourself is going to be the maximum amount of money you will receive. It's a good area. I would hate for any company, with "Investments" in their name to hold my lease because it would immediately bring to mind "holding" for a long period of time rather than producting, but it could happen to you with any lessee/operator. I would keep in mind that it's your investment too, they may not drain your spacing right away but I would want to be the owner when they did.
I'm under the low producing well. Can you explain "drain your spacing"? I've tried to educate myself on minerals, drilling, etc. but admit ignorance regarding this. Money has become an issue and researching HESS's track record if they have not drilled in my sections other then the original drilling 3 years ago they tend to move on to other leases. When I look at selling the amount I'm being offered in one lump sum would take me 20 years to make in royalties. You can see my quandry.
It will take several wells to drain your spacing of all economically recoverable oil.