Hi, not sure the best place to post this, but I am interested in having some informal conversations/interviews with folks who own or have sold land and/or minerals in Doddridge, Tyler, or Wetzel counties, also with folks who have worked in the gas industry (Marcellus and Utica development, especially landmen and people who have done title work). Please get in touch if willing to speak, thanks! 617-863-7601 [email protected]
HI EVERYONE,
DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON WITH JAY BEE EXPLORATION IN TYLER COUNTY? SPECIFICALLY IN MCELROY AND ELLSWORTH DISTRICTS. HOW DO I FIND OUT? THEY SAID THEY WERE PUTTING A WELL IN AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS YEAR BUT I HAVEN’T HEARD A THING. I INHERITED A PERCENTAGE OF 60 ACRES BUT KNOW NOTHING.
Hi Julie,
The location in West Virginia is by county, district, tax map and parcel number. Out west (starting in Ohio, I think, not too far west!) they use township and range terminology. West Virginia tracts are usually parts of the original land grants, from the days before the United States, and keep getting divided up. Most descriptions are in metes and bounds. Here is a brief description of both systems.
You said you found the 1907 document. It probably was in metes and bounds. Did your lease have information on the district, map and parcel?
Depending on what information you have from your lease, I might be able to help you track more information. There might be useful information in the old document. And the site sometimes stops working correctly and you have to open it again. Sometimes they have it down for a few hours to update it or something.
About the pool and the total acres in the pool, you need to know the well name and pooling information to determine acres in a pool. If you have a portion of your gross acres in a well and another portion in a different well, your acres in each pool would be different, and each pool acreage is different.
I hope this hasn’t confused things. Please ask again if you have more questions, and if you have any more information you want to share, please post it. If you want, you can click on my name and friend me, with a message and I might be able to help that way. Read as much as you can. Go to the Doddridge County (WV) discussions. It has been quiet lately but there is quite a lot of good information there.
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Hi there, I’m a newbie here. Inherited mineral rights in Tyler county , 0.94750 net acres(?) I have many questions and would like to include as much relevant info with my questions as possible. How and where do find the following info underlined? And, I’m wondering Is this small-0.94750 net acres even have a possibility of earning much? I know there are many factors in determining the outcome, so I’d like to find out as much as I can while we wait to see any production.
thank you in advanced, Julie
Mary Samuel, I don’t know anything about Jay Bee’s operations. A lot of the companies are having to be careful with their resources due to the low price of natural gas for the last few years. It is starting to go up now so things might get going again.
@Mary Samuel: Jay-Bee has active drilling operations in both of the districts that you mention, targeting the Utica Shale. The well in Ellsworth district can be seen from Rt. 18 near The Jug, just south of Middlebourne, now that the leaves are down. This property was originally known to me as the ‘Huth’ farm. JB has also been drilling on Indian Creek (McElroy), re-using Marcellus pads. I also know of a Utica permit being issued to them to revisit a Marcellus pad on Big Run, off Indian Creek (McElroy), to explore the Utica.
Pax, How large of an interest are you talking about?
Antero may feel they have the whip hand because it isn’t a large enough interest to make a lawsuit and it’s costs reasonable in your position.
Depending on the size of the interest and if it were large enough, I might be inclined to reply that the coming lawsuit is going to cost them many thousands of dollars and they had better stop sitting on their checkbook.
kw kennedy… Gold, Khourey and Turak, will be the group I was informed… They handle the Landowners Groups I gather…
And they will work for a Percentage of the recovery… if nothing is recovered, no debt is owed too them… They have a Oil and Gas Division within their Legal Firm… GOOD… One less headache that I will have to deal with now… let them have it…
Pax, I believe Antero is relying on the likelihood that no lawyer would represent you on contingency and that you wouldn’t go $20,000+ out of pocket. It’s not nice. It certainly isn’t fair but what it is, is how things are done.
Pax, that is good. I have been the driving force behind two lawsuits against oil companies and I’m involved in a couple more and many people don’t know the reality of suing an oil company. I’m glad you are in good hands.
Pax- Oil and gas law isn’t like other forms of law. I found that out early. They will look him up first thing to see if he is a member of the O&G “club”, just as I would for any lawyer on the opposing side.
I live in Michigan, my heart is in WV, and I inherited about 1/2 acre of mineral rights in Tyler County. Antero has sent a lease packet offering approx. 2000. as a lease bonus payment, this is all new to me, is this average, should I try for more ? if so how?
Read as much as you can on this site, all the discussions for Tyler county as well as Doddridge, Ritchie, Wetzel, and Pleasants (surrounding counties). The bonus is always lower than they can go, so asking for more is good. However there are lots of important things in the lease that are even more important than the bonus. I really recommend having an attorney help you with this process, even for a small acreage. If you search for my name, you will probably find several times where I have posted links for attorneys in the region.
WV is indeed a special place. I have WV roots, including some in Tyler (1800s)
Nancy Mosley, Thanks for the info. I do have a trusted friend/attorney looking over the lease paperwork. I’ve been reading what I can and it looks like most say the lease bonus could possibly be all I (we) ever see.
I guess some moved south. I think half of northern West Virginia moved to Ohio! My grandparents did.
About the bonus being all you might get, I think that is generally not true, but when the price of gas is high the royalty is going to be better than when the price is low, of course. This is why it is important to try to get a no deduction lease, or market enhancement. A good attorney can help get you better terms. Some of the attorneys have good relationships with the landmen and can get better lease terms for their clients than the clients can get on their own.
Nancy Mosley, I was surprised to hear my family was in Tyler county, we’ve always been south (Fayette, kanawha and Nicholas counties) my nieces live in Fayette county my parents and grandparents are buried in Nicholas county.
Great comments DT!
Thank you. Been interesting dealing with landsmen and lawyers over this lease stuff on the mineral rights my father’s family left me in Tyler county. More like a headache. They really must hate me now every time they send me a lease, myself and my adviser go over it with a fine tooth comes and mark it up in red. They seem to have a thing for pooling and production costs and use’s words like if instead of does. The thing is saying what seems to be the same thing but a little different in the same paragraph but just worded a little different just enough to change it very very sneaky . I have gone through 7 or 8 landsmen 3 lawyers. Went after one with the bar association and now I seem to be talking to a guy who really works for the company that wants my mineral rights leased. So at this time we are playing mark up the lease send it back and forth and make it pretty with red lines LOL.
Christine and any other newcomers. With my experience, the company will offer the enhancement clause type lease This is no more than the lease with production costs. The other one is the gross at the wellhead. That is the one some of our family took. I compared that lease to one of the others who took the one with production costs. The one with the gross was better as far as money received after wells were drilled and checks came in. We also got some wording on Pugh clause and such. Problem with some of the clauses in my opinion is, you are in a unit with several others. By doing that it is hard to pin the company down on the changes you have with the next guy who has no changes. One thing that is most important is your royalty percentage and where they are paying and how soon after the well is complete. From the time the well is complete, they are taking about a year or more for the first check with back pay to be sent out. Bottom line is, that no matter what, the company will not give in too much. They will either go around you or file a partition suit to make you spend your money to defend your minerals. In the end, win or lose they will not give in much. They have seen it all and know how to counter. I said a couple years ago this leasing stuff can drive you up a wall. You may get some good cash but, dealing from point A to point Z is very trying. At one point I had over 70 plus emails haggling and getting threats back and forth with lawyers and several land agents and office agents and such. Nancy M. is the lessees friend on here. She knows where and how to research all this stuff. I am kind of semi retired from all this craziness. The companies are still active and I see more truck traffic on the roads. I believe they will start going at it more as soon as they get areas drilled they have leased.
Christine, the memorandums purpose is to get as many changes in the lease that will benefit you. If you sign a company lease with no changes it hurts you and gives them more control. There are sites that tell folks what to ask for. It does not hurt to ask for all the changes and all the money you can get. The company will only give in so much. The better the area the more changes you can get. If you get it in writing then that will give you solid ground to work on. One thing to remember is the agent that contacts you, works for the company and they will tell you about anything to get a lease signed. Do your homework and research as much as your time and your mind will allow.