Dear Forum, I have inherited 3 very small working interests in Rusk and Gregg Counties in Texas. Two of the 3 working interests have never incurred income or expenses in over 6 years. The 3rd in Gregg County had 2018 Earnings of ~$150.00 and expenses of $50.00. Is there a way to give these away? Donate them to the county? If I could find a buyer, what would be the “procedure” to transfer ownership? Is it possible to do this without incurring the expenses of an oil and gas lawyer? Thanks for any advice. Pam
You can try donating to a charity. Many of them are quite knowledgeable in how to do the transfers.
There is a non profit organization in fort worth that goes by the name DIAL (developing independent adult living) they are striving to raise funds for assisted living for young-old adults who have mental disabilities, i’m sure they would be happy to have these donated to them. Here is the website, Marty is a very sweet and kind lady, the phone number on this page is wrong, but the email address is correct. DIAL Developing Independent Adult Living | Directory of Community Resources in Texas
There are companies who will possibly buy this on a cash-flow basis. However, without future drilling on the horizon, these interests may be too small to even mess with because the cost of running/verifying title would be greater than the value of the interests.
Thank you all for your replies.
With further consideration, I believe charities would not want a donation that may have more financial liability (expenses) than possible gains.
I have discovered filing the appropriate documents with each county will probably exceed the value of the interests as well.
Anyone have any idea what running/verifying title might approximately cost? Is this done by a landman or a lawyer? I have already consulted a lawyer about selling the interests and he said the cost of his time would far exceed the value of the interests.
Any ideas of what to do? Thanks!
Pamela,
The best route is to contact those operators to see if they can fill you in on what your ownership is. The cost of hiring a landman/attorney would be a costly route given that these properties are producing minimal production from what you have disclosed. The best routes i can see is either A). Keep it B). Donate it and wipe your hands of it or C). sell it to a company who can then decide if they want to go through the trouble of verifying ownership or not.
Can anyone tell me if The Long Trust or Woodbine Production is the operator the following property names and legal descriptions? I obtained this information from division orders. I do not know the corresponding lease numbers.
Property is in Gregg County:
Division order shows 0.0075 working interest in each
PROPERTY NAME: BIRDSONG #2
LEGAL DESCRIPTION: 80 ACRES OF LAND, MORE OR LESS, OUT OF THE S. S. BARNETT SURVEY A-24. IN GREGG COUNTY, TEXAS.
PROPERTY NAME: DANVILLE GAS UNIT LEGAL DESCRIPTION: 585.076 ACRES OF LAND, MORE OR LESS, IN THE S.S. BARNETT A-24, JOHN COLE A-48, J.J. GRISHAM A-84, AND THE J.M. MCCURRY A-145 SURVEYS IN GREGG COUNTY, TEXAS.
Property is in Rusk County:
Division order shows 0.004827187 working interest
PROPERTY NAME: R.T. SMITH WELL #1
LEGAL DESCRIPTION: 80 ACRES, MORE OR LESS, IN THE DA REEVES SURVEY A-693, RUSK COUNTY, TEXAS.
Thanks for any additional information you can provide.
How can I keep it, donate or sell it if I can’t prove I own it/have rights to it? I have followed up trying to contact the operator to see if they can help me with what my ownership is…I believe the operator is The Long Trust or Woodbine Production…Thanks for your reply.
If you can get in touch with the operator, ask them for a copy of the paragraph from the Division Order Title Opinion. That should have the title trail for your ownership. Then you can may be able to get copies of the relevant title documents from the courthouse.
Gregg County:
- SS Barnett survey, Birdsong #2 well, operated by Reserve PRoduction, Inc. (previously operated by The Long Trusts
- John Cole survey, Denny Heirs #1 well is operated by Geo-Vest of Texas, Inc.
- J.J. Grisham survey, Flanagan #22 well is operated by Samson Lone Star, LLC.
- WM J McCurry survey, Elder Heirs #1 well, operated by Shoco Production, LP.
Rusk County:
- DW Reeves survey, RT Smith #1 well, operated by Dowco Petroleum, Inc.
Thank you so very much! You are my new hero!!!
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well i’m flattered! Hope that helps!