Where's this property?

West Virginia Mineral Rights Tyler County, WV
1

Hi,

My mother received a oil & gas lease from EB Exploration on property in Tyler Co. she owns an interest in. Since neither of us knows much about this property, I need to do some research, but we're in PA, about a four-hour drive from Tyler Co. I thought I'd start by trying to find the property, known as the McCormick farm I think, on a map to get a sense for where it is. It is identified in the lease as being in the McElroy District, Map 12, Parcels 19,20, 20.1. Is there a map online where I could locate this?

Also, does anyone know anything about EB Exploration? I didn't see it mentioned in any of the discussions I read.

2

You can call the Assessor's office in Tyler County and order a copy of Tax Map 12 for McElroy District, probably $3.

If you go to the WV Geological and Economic Survey, to the Pipeline, http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/oginfo/pipeline/pipeline2.asp

and select Tyler County, I found several old wells in that appear to be on the parcels you describe (I have a subscription to a service where I can view tax maps). For the Permit number, enter 00132 and 00072 and 00518 and 00519. These all apparently are on these parcels. On the north side of Indian Creek, parcel 20.1 is divided in half east to west by Grass Spring Run. To the west is an unnamed run, between Indian Run and Grass Spring Run. Indian Run is not part of these parcels, too far to the west.

Don't know anything about EB Exploration.

If you want maps of the old wells, let me know and I'll dig up the info on where to order them, about $3 per well map. Probably not producing now, but can give good historic information.

3

Nancy,

Thank you for that information. I'm guessing Labor Day weekend is not a good time to find anyone in the Assessor's office, but I will try to call next week.

EB said the wells are not producing, but Clearfield Energy sent an oil royalty check (presumably on this property, but I don't have enough information to know for sure) in April of this year. Is it likely a well would be producing in April & not producing now?

4

For old wells that produce oil, in my experience with several in Ritchie County, it is usual for there to be once a year or twice a year oil runs. A lot of wells produce gas and oil, and the oil goes into a tank near the well. The oil gathering company (such as Clearfield) sends a truck around when the gas producer says the tank has enough oil in it to pick up. So, not unusual that there was an April pick up and not since then. Might be April next year before enough oil is collected.

You can go here:

https://apps.dep.wv.gov/oog/wellsearch_new.cfm

and put in the API numbers for the wells I saw, with the prefix 095 for Tyler County and 00518 etc as the second part. That API place on the page is near the bottom. There is a lot of information on that website.

About EB wanting your mother to lease, when there is current (within the year) oil production, I would think that your mother's property is still under lease with someone. She or you should call Clearfield and ask who the operator is for the well or wells they gather oil from. Time to do research. Has your mother owned this long?

5

Nancy,

Thank you again for your help. One well, 00072, has had a lot of gas activity, but may, in fact, be on property belonging to someone else since the farm name & surface owner (?) are different than the other three wells.

One of three wells on the McCormick farm had some oil activity last year (175 something -- I assume this is barrels?), but the information only goes to the end of 2012 so I don't know anything about 2013.

My mother has owned this since 1966, when my father died. I have sent email to the operator of the wells asking for clarification of the situation. I know that EB has signed a lease with another branch of our family who also own an interest in this property. I assume EB has taken care of existing leases, but my mother was never notified.

6

I would recommend getting the well maps for those wells I found that look like they are on the parcels you listed. Here is the one to email:

[email protected]

Debbie Valdez. Just ask for the wells, API numbers 47-095-00518 etc. The 47- is for West Virginia and the 095- is for Tyler County. The last 5 digits are for the well. If not on your property, you should get a well plat showing the surface tract where it is, surface owner and royalty owner at the time drilled, and often names of surrounding owners. It might help establish for you where your property is, so you can compare it to the Geological and Economic Survey map. She usually emails back the same day or the next day with the well information attached, then emails an invoice, so you get a quick way to see the shape of the property from the well plat maps and compare that to the tax map when you get it from the Assessor.

You are right about the 00072 well having a different name, and it might be on an adjacent property, but possible the surface changed ownership and the name just reflects that.

About not seeing 2013 production: the law in West Virginia is that production (barrels of oil, mcf of gas i.e. thousand cubic feet) is due to be submitted to the appropriate place in the Office of Oil and Gas by March 31 of the following year. For 2013, that means March 31 2014. Then the Office has until August of that year to get the numbers input into the system. Often companies get the reports in early, and there are some numbers posted in April, but that is the earliest to expect 2013 numbers. There are some other states that have more frequent reporting rules.

About the payment from Clearfield, does it list a well number (API number)? They could also tell you which company they have listed as the operator. Might be different from what is in the database. A call to Clearfield would be useful, I think.

Does your mother pay county property taxes for a mineral or oil and gas interest to Tyler County? If so, a phone call to the assessor's office, besides ordering a tax map, could include asking what well or wells they have listed with that property. As I understand it (not completely sure about this), when a property is leased, the company doing the leasing tells the assessor's office that Mr. So-and-So's royalty interest in Whatever District, listed as A Number of acres on Some Name of a Watershed (your interest is near Grass Spring Run and Indian Creek) has been leased by Company A. This is recorded in their records, and when a well is drilled (if that happens) the API number is recorded in the assessor's records (I think). Meanwhile if the well produces something and the royalty owner is paid, the $ amount of what is paid for that well, by API number, is reported to the WV State Tax Department, in the Leased Minerals section of the Property Tax Division (I might not have the official names of these agencies). Then the Tax department sends the information, by API number and royalty owner (might be several royalty owners for one well, and several wells for one royalty owner) to the county assessor's office, where it is recorded. This helps determine the assessment each year, and thus the county property tax. All this is about 2 years behind. 2011 production, reported in 2012, determines 2013 taxes. Etc.

Anyway, when you have the info from the assessor about what well numbers are associated with the property, you can ask what $ amount was reported for the well (or wells). The reason you need this is to make sure you aren't signing a lease that will be invalid because of an existing lease.

When you are actually in Tyler County at the courthouse, you should get a copy of the old lease if you don't have it. And find out how your father acquired his interest in the property. Going back in the assessor's records should show that, then go to the records room and see what records you can get. The main thing is the lease, and see if at least one well has been producing all this time. There are new permits nearby, so it is in a good area evidently.

This is getting complex. As I see it, you need to determine if the current lease is valid (sounds like it is), and ask EB what about that.

If you or your mother is on good terms with other family members with interest in the property, it would be good to find out as much as possible about that lease and the conversation with the landman about it.

It might be some kind of top lease, where EB leases your mother's property IF the current lease ceases. If the current lessee (the company) wants to keep the current lease and it really is still valid, then maybe EB is wasting its time.

If you (your mother) do have the chance to sign a lease, make sure that a good oil and gas attorney looks over it. You should get a good bonus and royalty % since this is a good area for natural gas liquids in the Marcellus shale, and possiblilty of other shale formations below that which could be good producers.

Hope I haven't given you too much or wrong information, but that is the way I understand this. I know some of this from conversations with county (Ritchie) and state personnel, but maybe Tyler has some different ways of doing things.