Hello,
I have a fracking lease on a residential lot that I own the mineral rights to, but it has several clauses that I am concerned about. If anyone could help me, I'd appreciate it.
My mother signed a lease on this lot and the company found out later that I owned the other half of the lot. She has since passed away and this is a lease for the whole lot. Many of these clauses were not in the original lease that my mother signed.
Thank you very much.
Clause 14.
For the same consideration recited above lessor hereby grants assigns and conveys to lessee its successor and assigns a perpetual subsurface well bore easement under and through the leased premises for the placement of well bores from oil or gas wells the surface locations of which are situated on other tracts of land and which are not intended to develop the leased premised or lands pooled therewith and which lessor shall have no right to royalty or benefit. Such well bore easements shall run with the land and survive any termination of this lease.
----(My objections are signing away rights forever, which I won't do, and also that this is a residential lot and I don't want any pipelines under it. Can I just strike this clause?)
Clause 2.
This is a paid up lease, requiring no rentals, shall be in force for a primary term of 3 years from the date hereof and for as long thereafter as oil or gas or other substances covered hereby are produced in paying quantities from the leased premised or from lands pooled therewith or this lease is otherwise maintained in in effect pursuant to the provision hereof.
----(Is this standard or does it leave the time element too open-ended?)
Clause 3. Royalties on oil gas and other substances produced and saved hereunder shall be paid by lessee to lessor as follows ... 25%...shall be delivered at lessee's option to lessor at the wellhead or to lessor's credit at the oil purchaser's transportation facilities, providing lessor shall have the continuing right to purchase such production at the wellhead market price then prevailing in the same field
...the royalty shall be 25% of the proceeds realized by the lessee from the sale therof, less a proportionate part of ad valorem taxes and production,severance and or other excise taxes and the post production costs incurred by lessee including delivering processing or otherwise marketing such gas or other substances provided that the lessee shall have the continuing right to purchase such production at the prevailing wellhead market price.
----(It appears that they want to charge me for costs that should be their own costs, and that they want to buy it at one price and pay a royalty a lesser price price.)
Clause 10. This clause states that it gives the lessee ingress and egress and states all the ways in which they could use the surface even though it states in the lease title and in another clause that there will be no surface use.
Clause 18. This clause states that lessor will be required to execute any and all documents needed form any governmental entity to conduct the operations contemplated including distance waivers, consents, variants, easements or covenants prohibiting construction of improvements and petitions of support.
(---Could I strike this? I don't want to be required to execute any of these documents.)