Tiny .94750 net mineral acre inherited and leased = tiny income possibilities?

West Virginia Mineral Rights Tyler County, WV
1
Hello, I'm trying to find our more info on any activity on our small inheritance (mineral rights) of .94750 net acre (45.48 total acre lot) in Tyler County, Ellsworth District. The parcel is 2-21-15. We signed a negotiated lease with Antero in Sept 2016. Since then I’ve been doing a lot of research with the help and advice of a few of you great people here. So far all I can find is one permit recorded that include any of our parcel, the Owens 3H unit. It only appears to include a tiny corner of our parcel. Is there a easier way to plug in my parcel # and get the complete history from any and all permits or activity?
Also, can someone give me a clue on the possibilities, using different scenarios, what that this small ownership could result in, just a range of monthly royalty payment? Many different variables play into actual results I know. I do not have DO yet. Our royalty % is higher than 15% (am I allowed to state my actual royalty % here?). I started calling Antero a couple weeks ago but have only played phone tag. So frustrating to miss their calls back to me when I can only leave a message on their end.
Here’s another question that’s been lingering: If our GGG-grandfather" William Spearman Dewey" (known to be a gas & oil businessman) had ownership in this parcel in 1907, how would we know if there is any other of his properties out there that we may have also inherited? We only know about this one because Antero contacted us.
Thank you for any info and advice.
Julie
1 Like
2

Julie,

From what you describe, I suspect you will receive royalties that will buy you lunch or dinner, once a year. Antero is very good about drilling another unit next to others, you most likely will be included in a unit from the same well pad.

I will try to research the Owens 3H unit and see if I can learn anything for you.

3

Julie,

There are 14 legs currently permitted for the Weigle Well Pad, which the Owens 3H unit is drilled from. Without spending hours reviewing various permits or searching Tyler County records, I think it is safe to assume your tract will be included in another unit.

That said, do not plan on buying a yacht or personal jet from the royalty income.

4

Thank you,

Well obviously a lunch or dinner certainly isn't worth the $ we paid attorney or my time spent researching. Maybe our attorney was not realistic at all with us when discussing possible/likely royalty payments we may or may not see. He definitely painted a much better "best/worse" case scenarios. Oh well, at least I can say I've learned a lot about mineral rights/leases this the past year.;)

Thank you again!

5

Julie,

Hopefully you will receive more than I estimated, just do not get your hopes up too much. Repeatedly, I have seen people count their chicks or checks, before the eggs hatched, only to find themselves in financial distress, having spent monies they thought would come in.

Good luck, you are welcome to rub it in my face if you are able to buy a yacht or jet. LOL :-)

6

Your GGG-grandfather purchased 1/2 O&G from a DF Smith in 1907 recorded in deed book 63-440. I scanned the Tyler County grantee books under his name. He also purchased a gas well from a Doak in 1917. These are the only two conveyances I can find. Unless he was willed more property this is probably it.

As for your royalties. The best offsets I can find are Antero's Scardina 3H and 4H laterals. API 4709502173 and 2174. In their first year TIL they both made about 2.5BCF of gas and 20,000 barrels of oil (NGLs). Here is my formula.

2,500,000,000/1,000=2,500,000 MCF. Multiply by $2.50 an MCF you get $6,250,000. That is what that well grossed in it's first year. Let's assume every mineral owner got 18%... so the total royalty payouts would be $1,125,000. A 10,000 foot lateral is probably in a 260 acre unit (on average, Antero drilled these laterals at 650 foot spacing) Lets assume under current plans that 10% of the 45.48 acre tract is inside the new unit. 4.548 gross acres and you own 0.09475 net acres of the O&G in that unit. 0.09475/260=0.000364423X$1,125,000=$409.97 first year.

The oils...At $50/barrel. $50X20,000= $1,000,000

0.09475/260=0.000364423X$1,000,000= $364.42 first year.

Assuming no post production costs you could expect to gross (assuming a lot of variables) $774.39 that first year.

Going forward expect a 20% annual decline in the gas for the first 5 years...then between a 5-10% decline there on.

Expect up to a 90% decline in the Oil and NGLs. From what I have seen and heard. You get these that first year and don't expect much after that.

7

Robert,

Great work & information!

8

Hi Julie, WV Mineral Owner has given you some good information.

You asked about possible other tracts involving your ancestor. Here is a link to the Tyler county documents website Tyler County documents

It works best with Internet Explorer as a search engine, and needs Microsoft Silverlight installed (I think).

You can select Index Search (the more recent documents) or Archive Search (the early ones).

For Index, it is fairly easy, just put the name in the search box.

For Archive, you need to use the index first. When you first get to the Archive site, you see at the top of the screen to the left "Administrator Bond". Use that drop down list and go to "Grantor Index to Deeds". Then go to the middle drop down and select the letter of the alphabet you want to search, "D-D" for Dewey. Then at the right page "0" is shown. Click on "View Image". Scroll down, and see that at the bottom of the page is "Dev-Dez" 19. Since there is not a special page for Dewey, you need this page. Drop down to Page 19 and click on "View Image". To the left, there is a column for dates, and the next for Surnames. On that page are none for Dewey. Go back to the drop down, and go to page 20 then click "View Image". On page 20 are some with Surname Dewey and "W. S." as forename, probably your ancestor. The first thing for him is in Deed book 66 page 81. To view that, go back to the left side drop down menu, select "Deed Book" for set, Book 66, page 81 then :View Image". This shows him as a trustee. I didn't read any further, but this will show you how to use the system. Not completely intuitive but it is easier than going to the courthouse in Middlebourne, Tyler County, WV. If I were searching this, I would first go through the Grantor index and write down everything listing your ancestor (and any other relatives you want to research), then also check the Grantee index (same idea, maybe not the same page numbers). Then go check the records.

Grantor is the one granting something (the seller, the lessor, etc). Grantee is the one getting something, the buyer, the oil and gas company lessee, etc.

I saw an affidavit of heirship with his name in the newer records. If you haven't seen it, it might be interesting.

Apologies if you already know these things. If you have trouble, I might be able to help, maybe somebody else can.

While I was typing this, Robert was giving you good information, Thanks Robert!

9

WV Mineral Owner, haha, yes I'm sure you have seen that often! I've started this endeavor to educate myself on O & G mineral rights (specifically ours) knowing I may only end up with more knowledge and no yacht. I so appreciate the time everyone here takes to help people like me who start out with no clue on what to do and how to do it. This past year I have learned so much from you all here..with so much more to learn! :))

Thank you so much, always. :)

10

Robert,

goodness thank you for your time in answering my post with such a wealth of info for me to ponder. I have some questions..working on putting it into clear words.

Meanwhile, I am baffled at how you see the Scardina 3H and 4H wells include my parcel. I have looked at those scanned logs and I cannot find our parcel on that plat anywhere. Maybe I'm not reading it correctly, but I look for TM 21, parcel 15, (land owner Havranek). (2-21-15) The scanned logs map (plat) doesn't show any parcels on TM 21 from what I can see. It has TM 27, TM 4, TM 5...

11

Those wells do not intersect your parcel. These are the closest drilled wells with public data available to your property. I would categorize these wells as one offset to your property. Given the geology of the area I would with high confidence figure that the production numbers for the wells to intersect your property would be very close to these two wells.

12

Julie, I was in your shoes 10 - 12 years ago when I was thrown into the industry, totally blind. The site / members have been extremely helpful to me also. I am half-way educated, but feel like a idiot in some aspects of this field.

13

Ah, I see now. offsets..I missed that part. Thank you!

14

Hi Nancy,

Thank you so much! I'm looking at this info and exploring it. Learning so much about my ancestors through all of this research here really has been a bonus to all of this. :)

I do appreciate your feedback very much here! I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

Julie

15

Thank you W.V. Mineral Owner,

I'v read many of your replies to others over the past year or more and I can see that you offer lots of great knowledge to those who come 'stumbling in here' just like me. The more I read here, the more interesting it gets and pulls me in, and at other times I end up with just a big headache! In the end, I may have nothing to show but I can say I learned a lot from some really helpful here people who went out of there way to offer knowledge from their experience. :)

16

Thank you again, Robert, for taking time to reply here. Lots of great info.

17

This has been the most informative post I have found so far as a new member. Unfortunately I’m not sure how to proccede with the Antero offer for my small mineral interest. My net acreage is .27371 out of a 63.06250 gross acreage parcel in Union District (parcel 10-13-55, 55.1). There are 54 listed owners and only two are known to me. The lease offer is $600 and 15% royalty for 5 years but also says “as long thereafter as oil or gas is produced”. It also includes paying a portion of post production cost. I threw the BS flag at the landman on this wording but he of course stood firm. I was also offered to sell my interest for $1000. After consideration I made a counter offer, via email, to sell my interest to Antero for $1500, which the landman agreed to. Several days later he emailed back and said Antero was sticking to their original offer of $1000. I obviously don’t have much bargaining room with such a small interest and many of the others have taken their first offer already. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

18

The part about “as long thereafter as oil or gas is produced” is standard language and actually good. You want them to keep producing. Better wording would be …produced in marketable amounts… or something. Really bad would be …as long as there is searching for oil and gas… The amount you suggested is not bad. Maybe say that is what you want and see if they budge. Or ask for a market enhancement clause on the royalty.

19

Thanks Nancy! I realize that every tract/well will produce differently but on average, would you think I would be better off selling since my interest is so small? My thinking is that it may be years before they drill and with such a small interest, even more years of small checks to reach the sales price I would get now. Am I off base?

20

I don’t feel qualified to make suggestions on buying and selling interests, but you are probably right. However if the landman at first agreed to the $1500 price, it might be that you could get at least a little more for it.