Situation: My family owns 80 acres of minerals in NE/4 of 21-14N-13W. It is held under an old lease (no copy) with a marginal vertical well (Baker operated by Unit Petroleum) in NW/4. Continental has three new spacing orders involving this section. First is for west half of Sections 21-28 with a drilled, not yet producing, horizontal well on 28 (Eichberger). Another is for the governmental section of 21. The third is for the east half of Sections 16-21 with a well being drilled under an emergency order. All three units are for common sources of Woodford, Mississippian and Hunton, Question: will my family be ‘free agents’ to negotiate with CLR for these new units or be eligible for a forced pool if used or does this old lease somehow kick us out of the ballgame? We have a couple of other similar situations with some additional complexity but will leave those for another time.
Dear Miss Sharen,
You need to get a copy of the lease and read it. Eichberger well has reported production. Is your family member included in the list of respondents in the orders? A lot of dead folks are named in the pooling application for section 21.
You can find a copy of your lease at the County Clerks office in Watonga.
Thank you for comments. My family has received the spacing order info for 21-28 and also the request from CLR to OCC to not release test results because they were in, I believe, negotiations with some working interests. We are listed on the respondents exhibit for these filings. We have received no info re pooling. Where would I find pooling information?
We all live out of state. Does anyone know of a service in Watonga or area that does research at the courthouse. I have three leases I need to get copies of and do have some reference information so it wouldn’t be a blind search.
You might try the abstract office, they might be able to do it for you. Abstract & Guaranty. There are also severely land offices on Blaine County that could do it also. Friend me and I can get some names and numbers. I could do it but I'm sure it would be frowned on since I work for the county in a different office.
Hello Sharren, my family owns MR in Section 28 14N 13W and it is a multi-unit horizontal well combined with your section 21. This well is producing gas at a very high level since 10-18-2016. We expect to get the first check for 5 months of production next week. If you have mineral rights on section 21 and you are held by production on an old lease (Baker) you were probably pooled on this well. Whoever is listed as the legal owner should have received a W-9 form from Continental and you need to sign this and fax it or overnight it otherwise they are obligated to withhold 25% in Fed taxes from your checks. This well has produced and average of 13.5 million cubic feet of gas per day since 10/18/16 and you split that volume in your decimal interest with us in section 28. This is a big gas well producing now.
Greg, thanks for information. I talked to CLR person this morning and he tells me that pooling order will be out next Friday. He also told me that unless our lease has a depth clause, that our share of the royalty would only be what’s in the lease and we would not be in pooling order. I am still trying to locate copy of lease but as old as it is, assume there is no depth clause.
Paul, thanks for info. I checked Abstract and Guaranty web site and for Blaine County they don’t seem to have records earlier than 2001. The leases I am looking for are from the 1950-60s. I identified a couple of abstract offices but haven’t contacted thrm. I would friend you but I don’t know how to do it. Any additional info would be appreciated.
You're welcome Sharren. We have the same problem on Section 33 14N 13W where we have an old 1/8 lease from 1974 with no depth clause. The Pugh / Depth clause did not come about in the law until the early '80's if my memory is right and then it was only required on leases of 160 acres or more. The good news is it's all upside Sharren and this well is one of the three top producing gas wells that Continental has in the STACK. This well is shown on their CLR Shareholder report. Blessings, G