Myself and about 250 other people in my family received letters requesting to lease and drill on land that was owned by my great grandfather. We would like to at least see the land before making a decision. It is sections 1, 12 and 13-3S-4W. If someone could show me where those are or provide a map of the sections, I would appreciate it.
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Welcome to the forum.
Here is a map that will get you located. Look in the far SE corner.
Stephens County Map.pdf (391.8 KB)
If you are new to leasing, it would be VERY wise to get a good oil and gas attorney to look at any draft lease. In general, they are not in the mineral owner’s favor and need significant edits. An investment upfront in good legal advice can result in more favorable royalties down the road. You also do not have to lease. You can wait for forced pooling where many of us take the highest royalty.
Here is a booklet from the OK Corporation Commission that you might find useful. 0_Royalty-Owners-Booklet-112020.pdf (6.8 MB)
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Thank you for this information. Does everyone involved have to agree to wait on forced pooling or can some owners choose that if others choose the lease option?
The great thing about mineral ownership is that each interest holder can do their own thing. There does not need to be a consensus. One owner can sign a lease with one company at a particular royalty/bonus while another goes with a different company, royalty, etc. One owner may choose to wait for forced pooling. Generally speaking this will not negatively impact the rights of any other owner. If the family is cohesive and controls a substantial acreage, then some families find that negotiation as a united front has better bargaining power. That is if you enjoy herding cats.
This post is not legal, tax or investment advice. Reading or responding to this post does not create an attorney/client relationship.
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Who is making the lease offer?
Continental Resources, Inc through Bearcat Land.
Unity in the family is very powerful!
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Very important to have no post production costs in gas plays, so getting an attorney involved is important. Never sign a lease where you do not understand all the terms and language.
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That in itself is a big factor in getting an attorney involved. They are requesting to use our land to make a profit and should not be forwarding the costs onto the land/mineral rights owner.
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We also got the letter for the same coordinates. What is your grandfathers name. We may be related
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My grandfather was Irvin Doyce Powell. I wouldn’t be surprised, honestly.
Welcome Fred57! Let us know how we can help.
All 3 of these sections have been held by production since at least 2014… is it possible that you got a well proposal, not a lease offer? If you or your family members didn’t lease you likely got forced pooled ~8 years ago. I don’t see anyway that they’d be reaching out to you to lease unless they somehow missed you on the pooling.
I think the 250 family members you’re referring to might be 250 respondents on the application?
I have minerals in most of those same sections. They are producing and the operator is Continental. They top leased us a few years ago even though it was HBP. I told the land man it was HBP, but he still wanted us to extend 2 years and was offering more bonus money. They never drilled the increased density wells. Maybe they will this time.
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I’m not sure, but I can tell you that any family members that I have spoken to about this never knew about this land until we received these letters. My grandmother passed in 1998 and my grandfather in 2003, so my uncle and mother would have known if there was a lease proposal or forced pooling if it happened in 2014.
Dare I ask a (potentially) stupid question? I trust it’s relevant to this thread, as I think other mineral rights owners may also have this question in the back on their mind.
What’s the difference between someone who actually owns the land in question, and those who are (for lack of a better term) “just” mineral rights owners of the same land? How do you know if you’re a legal land owner or just a mineral rights owner?
And how is it possible to have two different entities involving the same land? Why doesn’t the legal land owner also own the mineral rights to their own land?
Mineral rights are real property. They can be bought, sold, mortgaged, etc just the same as any real property. Many years ago in oil producing states or areas, the surface owners sold off portions of their minerals. Today, it is a small percentage of surface owners that own 100% of the minerals under their land.
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Has far as how to know if you’re the surface owner? At least in OK, if you’re not paying property taxes every year, then you don’t own the land itself. As far as the last two questions, everything I can think of comes back to moneyed interests. Only way it makes sense to this rancher. Will be interested to see other folks response to these questions.
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I mean maybe, but the “force” in force pooling means they forcibly pool all the owners that have not signed a lease/ elected so they can commence drilling. The operator is going to attempt to contact you and if they can’t then they’re able to go drill anyways. So if you guys never signed a lease and you own minerals here, you or whoever appears in title were pooled at 12.5% royalty (1/8).
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HBP is a very broad term. Leases with depth clauses or zones not named in poolings affect whether or not a party can lease those other zones.
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