Hello, I have a piece of land just north of Merkel in Jones county that has a well that was just drilled and they are in the process of completing it now. The operator called me and told me they would be paying me $2500 for a tank battery site. My question is what is a fair price for this in this area? How is this number usually calculated? I own 50% of the mineral on the property and 100% of the surface if that makes a difference.
Here is the history of my bad experience. By not owning any of minerals under my property, I found out the lessee of the minerals can do anything they please to the surface estate. Yes, they can offer some customary damages but they really do not need to pay anything to you is my understanding. My advice is take the money and run. My experience was wanting more, I got nothing but attorney expenses asking for more. Then this year’s “top hand” company representative just told me to shove it and the company did as they pleased without any compensation to date. On going 20 years plus now. Poor self made Billionaire just needs to keep cost of production as low as possible I guess. Meanwhile you as the surface owner pay taxes on your property, cannot use area the mineral lessee uses, etc. thanks to Texas statues which need some updating but guess what? Donations, influencers, lobbyist and greed will prevent legislation necessary to help the surface owner. These are my opinions expressed and I assume no liability. Others may comment so do as you are guided. A. Parker (thanks to the censor for washing my mouth out with soap, been a long time since that happened. My grandma was good at that!)
If you own the surface, then you need to get legal advice about any surface use agreement in Texas. Get a specialist that works in that arena. I spent my early days as a roustabout in the Permian basin and I have seen good clean sites and very filthy ones. You need ironclad protection as that tank battery can sit there for decades. If you want to see an example of good surface leases, look up the University of Texas or Texas A&M examples. Do not copy and paste for yourself-get a good attorney! Since you own part of the minerals and the surface, you have a bit more bargaining power than if you owned no minerals.
M Barnes is absolutely correct. Get legal help from an experienced attorney as you and yours will have this situation for a very long time. Get it done right at the start. andy
not really sure i have many options here as the surface/mineral lease was already executed a couple of months before i purchased the property. I spoke to an attorney a couple months ago and he said the lease was terrible and there wouldnt be a lot he could do to help.
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