My grandmother had oil royalties for a very long time. She is deceased (since 1985) and left everything to her grandchildren in her will. I recently located some unclaimed property in Michigan (where she used to live) and it is associated to Total Petroleum Inc. I sent a copy of her will and the required documentation to the Michigan Treasurer's Office to make a claim. However, now Michigan wants me to provide documentation associating her to Total Petroleum in the 1980's. Total Petroleum no longer exists and was bought out by Valero a long, long time ago. Valero says they dont have any documentation regarding her name.
Does anyone know who to contact regarding royalty documentation from Total Petroleum from the 80's? I told Michigan what a monumentous task this would be and they stated they could not release the property (even with the legal documentation I provided) unless they had documentation of her association to Total.
Any ideas?
Check with the county courthouse in the county where her minerals are located. They should have the records on file.
Good luck,
Pat
Hi Theron -
Her lease or royalty document(s) would have been filed of record in the County Clerk's Office (they may call them Clerk Recorders or something in Michigan). Find that or those documents and run out their ownership to today.
It might help to know that The Who's Who in the American Petroleum Industry published by McPherson Publishing Company in Oklahoma City, OK (2011-12 print) shows that Total Petroleum, Inc sold out or merged into Rigel Energy Corp, but It doesn't show when.
It would help and shorten your research if you knew what the legal description of the land(s) or interest(s) is. The Treasurer's Office should be able to provide you with that information.
Hope this helps -
Charles Emery Tooke III
Certified Professional Landman
Fort Worth, Texas
Thank you very much for the reply. Currently trying to run down information for Talisman Energy who bought out Rigel. What a spider web!
As of 2011-1012, Talisman Energy was still in existence. Guess you could google them.
Yes, the records can get very complicated. I've been researching them for some 38 years and I still struggle with them from time to time.
Wait'll you get a load of the multitude of confusing mergers, assignments and conveyances that are going to occur over the next 2 or 3 years, perhaps even longer!
I've always trusted McPherson's Who's Who, but the following link appears to be more up to date than my 2011-2012 Who's Who:
http://www.oiltrash.com/index2.cfm?module=public/mergers&page=mergerlist.cfm
It has Talisman as undergoing a name change in 2000 to Fortuna, Fortuna subsequently merged into or bought out by Midwest Energy and Midwest Energy apparently renamed Midwest Resources.
Hope this helps -
It does. Gives me more than I had a week ago. Thanks again for the help. I cant believe Michigan would rather hold and maintain property than get rid of it when it gets claimed. Especially with legal documents showing heirship. Lots of legwork on my end.
There is a lot of potential value in minerals. States recognize that.
Some are more Owner Friendly than others.