Reeves County property N/2, Section 1, block 72, Tract 15

General Mineral Rights Discussion
1

When we purchased this property, we were told in writing that we have "classified mineral rights"

I don't know what that means. On the warranty deed it states the following:

"The conveyance is made subject to any effective oil and gas lease, easement or prior reservation of record affecting herein conveyed lands."

Would someone please explain to me what this means. Do I have mineral rights or not?

Thank you.

2

Read about classified minerals here.

There appears to be a producing well on the section and the leases for said well can be seen here.

Is it possible to sever the surface owner's interest in (Classified Lands) minerals with the clause you shared? I do not know the answer to that question. Perhaps one of the Mineral Rights Forum experts will weigh in on this. When did you purchase the property?

3

Thank you for the information. Now I am really confused. I am really very naive about all of this. We purchased this property in 2004.

I have had several offers to buy my land so I thought I had better check into things as to why all these offers. Back in 2006 a company called Dawson Geophysical Company sent me a letter "Permit to Conduct Geophysical Operations." I chose not to grant permission. Never heard anymore from them or any other company in that type of business.'

How do I find out about our mineral rights for our property?

Thanks again :)

4
  1. Did you open and read the links I shared? It appears that since you own ten surface acres, you control, with limitations, ten mineral acres in the section. If you sell your surface acres, your control of the minerals will be lost. You may be able to negotiate a lease bonus of thousands of dollars per acre, so it would not be very wise to sell your land as it might be worth tens of thousands of dollars per acre due to the abovementioned bonus consideration and due to future royalties generated from oil and gas production. I would suggest that you get an oil and gas attorney like Wade Caldwell to help you with a lease. Perhaps others have a different opinion on this or can offer you better guidance. Repeating, your surface ownership allows you to control minerals in the section. If you sell your surface interest, your control of the minerals will be lost. Reeves county is very HOT now, and oil and gas mineral interests can be worth a lot of money. Consult with an oil and gas expert like attorney Wade Caldwell before you agree to sell your land or lease.
5

Yes I am reviewing what you sent me. Thank you so much for all this information. Need to do some work. I think I will do a title search to see what we have. Then will probably hire an attorney. Thank you for the recommendation. So much to learn! Love it.

6

You are welcome! I have no financial interest in promoting Wade Caldwell or his firm. I and many others have been impressed with his posts in this forum. An oil lease can turn on a single word, so do everything you can to make sure your attorney is very well versed in oil and gas law.

7

Looking at the GLO file, it seems that this is a section where the State has retained a royalty interest in the minerals. The leases are not on GLO Relinquishment Act forms and so I do not think that these are "mineral classified" where the State owns 100% of the minerals and the surface owner leases as an agent for the State. Therefore, it is possible that the minerals could be or have been severed from the surface. You will need to research the title history of your tract backwards through the seller.