Several members of my family have mineral rights (royalties) in Gaines County on producing wells. The operator is paying working interest payments to an individual that in turn is supposed to pay us our royalty payments. I talked to the operator and they sent me a spreadsheet showing the monies paid to this individual over the last six months. He has not paid royalty to us in over six months even though he is getting paid. He tells us he has an ongoing audit with the producer and he’s not able to pay until the audit is completed. From what the producer is telling us, they are sending him money each month, he’s just not paying us. We really don’t know what path to take, do we hire an attorney or not? Would like to have an oil and gas attorney maybe tell us our options. Thanks for your time.
Getting an attorney to review your lease is a good idea. In some leases, the operator remains liable for royalty payments even if a third party does the actual payment. However, usually the third party is the entity buying the oil or gas. Don’t think I have ever heard of another nonoperator working interest owner being responsible for royalty payments.
This topic was automatically closed after 90 days. New replies are no longer allowed.