I have an ORRI in a well in MS that recently started production for which I have received my first royalty check. The well appears to have been "officially" put into production in September of 2014 and I received back payements for the oil/gas production from that date, however prior to the "official" production date the well was tested several times and produced over 12,000 bbls of oil. The question I have is a royalty owner entilted to be paid on any oil/gas produced during the testing phase assuming the oil/gas was sold at some point by the operator or is any revenue generated by the sale of "test oil" used to offset the cost of the associated testing of the well. If it matters this activity took place after the completion of the well. Any input would be appreciated.
YES! They owe for any and all oil produced! Give them a friendly call until they "get caught up". Let the experts on this website know what happens. Bob Malone, oil and gas auditor