Have two questions. 1. Have a mineral lease of 5 acres that I need to transfer ownership from one group of family members to another. (Probate)
Contacted the clerk of records at Stark county and was told that they do not have forms and would have to hire an attorney. Whats with that?
2. have been contacted by Bianca Peak, not happy with being jerked around and their attitude. Are there other gas companies interested in leasing in the area?
Appreciate any help in this as we now live in Wisconsin, although we still have relatives in the area.
I understand that in the past week or two Blanca Peak has withdrawn all standing offers in Stark County, just as Sullivan Land Resources has done just to the south in Hettinger County. Both are working on behalf of Chesepeake Energy (see other posts on this site for more details/history - it isn't pretty).
I am also interested in other players active in this area, so I hope to see some good responses to your question! Good luck - to both of us!
My attorney confirmed that many of the offers have been removed. He mentioned that his phone is ringing off the hook with people wanting advice. His advice was don't accept bank drafts, take a check for whatever that is worth. Not sure I understand what a bank draft is, but glad I have professional help.
Does anyone have an idea why Chesapeake has withdrawn all standing offers in Stark county? Are a lot of the areas in Stark county concidered a risk to drill?
If Chesapeake follows their previous pattern, now that they have withdrawn their offers and got you confused, they will create some shell companies to come in and try to lease you cheap. I think there is some risk drilling in Stark, due to the reef type formations. You can have a dry hole fairly close to a verticle well that was cheap that has pumped about 2 million barrels. I would not sign a seismic agreement that gave them an option to lease at a set amount. If they don't find what they want they won't take the option. If they do find you have a hoard of oil, you won't be able to negotiate a lease based on your good fortune. Options are a no win for the mineral owner.
With a seismic agreement, can they drill any test or wildcat holes, or do they simply do geological testing. How acrurate is seismic testing? Also, are there any maps that define where reefs formations are located in Stark, or is this something located during seismic testing?
In addition to the withdrawal of offers by CHK et al (Blanca Peak and Sullivan) are they not paying/honoring leases? Or are there landowners that are still in the sign bonus payment waiting period (i.e. 90 banking days)?
I am a MI landowner and just went through this as covered in the 12/28 Reuters article. Maybe we can compare notes.
Mr. Fisher, they need the seismic to find the sweet spots. They can do anything you will agree to in the agreement, so read it carefully, in fact the agreement you are offered probably affords you no protection whatsoever. I'm starting to sound like a broken record, as in I keep saying, Buddy Cotten has a blog.....You can find it searching blogs at the top of this page.
Many here question as to why Chesapeake shell companies have pulled their offers. Take a look at the company as a whole. Complete debt ridden and most likely does not have the funds. They have a tendency as always to overspend. Reference the lawsuit filed against them by Harold Hamm and his sharing Aubrey McClendons email. Were he claims to be short of funds and needs more time.
Chesapeake (CHK) sold large position of rights in Ohio to a French company at the beginning of 2012 and contracted to drill on their behalf through 2014. It appears that they are following a strategy of consolidating large positions in promising areas, doing enough drilling and surveying to prove potential, and the monetizing their investment through sale of a large rights position. Once they have enough to test the market for a large sale, they pull back. There is nothing wrong with the strategy at that level. It makes sense given their financial position. The problem is the methods they use to acquire a concentration of rights in any given area. CHK appears to manipulate the market and use all contractual loopholes possible to achieve a low cost position only where they find value, abandoning all other leases. Our challenge as leaseholders is twofold: avoid being played by CHK reps, and finding another lessee (all developers require some concentration in an area to achieve scale, so once CHK gets to critical mass, nobody else finds it worth their while to play). Please note that I am fairly new to this scene and the above statements merely represent my personal observations and conclusions.
According to the basic rule CHK runs the price up then does not honor the offers. Then send in another company to low ball its been there way for some time now. One key factor is to place a clause in your leases. One that voids the lease should it ever be assigned to CHK or any company in which they have a holdings. That will tell you very quickly if they are behind the lease from the beginning.
I am so glad I found this site as I am totally new to this. I was executor and beneficiary of my aunt's. She was in a nursing home so there was nothing but the mineral rights to 10 acreas. She died while I was out on medical leave so I have never had them transferred to my name and I am now trying to find out what I need to do. I don't have the cash to hire an attorney so I hope I can get some advice here.
Although the Mineral Rights are in N.D., I live in Texas. How much of a problem is this going to be? Can I just do a deed transfer?
I acutally have someone now calling to lease; however, from what I have read on here, I need to check on many things, and find a company that is creditable.
Rockingbiz, you may/likely will have to do an ancillary probate in ND, the operators like to hold royalty in suspense so they can keep the money working for themselves interest free as long as they can find any cloud on the title. If your aunts estate is still open I have heard of royalty being paid into an estate acount. Sorry for your loss and I hope things work out for you.
Whiting has been drilling over 2 months on a well called Froelich, this seems quite a bit longer than most. I thought I'd read where wells were being drilled much quicker than previously.
Does anyone have insight as to why this would be over 2 months out?