If you know a well’s API, is there a single, definitive source to determine the current well operator? I’m getting several different answers using various sources.
It may vary by state. In Texas, RRC website has updated operators.
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OK, if the “operator” shown on the RRC website isn’t the same company you receive a monthly check from, which is the “operator”, and what do you call the other guy?
The payor may be the purchaser that is distributing royalties on behalf of the operator or it could be a company affiliated with the operator or perhaps a third party company contracted by the operator to pay the royalties.
Wells I’m investigating are not wells I currently get any royalty from . . . but they are on property I have (or THINK I have!) mineral rights to. I’m contacting the operators as a starting point. I have 53 wells in question. Most are producing and a handful are just permitted.
I should mention that I’m not surprised that the landmen were not able to ever FIND me or my relatives. Rights were purchased in the late 1920s and early 1930s and are still in the name of my grandfather who lived in SW Virginia. No relatives in that area. And no family member since the 1950s has managed our rights to these properties. Only properties that were leased got any attention at all. I’m VERY new to this but I’m trying to learn . . . and thanks to the folks on this forum I feel like I’m making progress. But I have a LONG way to go!
The Operator is most likely not going to work with you to sort out your chain of title. They typically just go by what is of record in the courthouse. I think your best bet is to have the title cleared up and recorded in your name. Then you could contact the Operator with your claim. Depending on how old these wells are, any escrowed royalties may have already escheated to the State.
I’m sure this is solid advice!! Thanks so much!
But right now I have so many properties in these situations I can’t afford an attorney for all of them. So I’m trying to do what I can by myself and this is my effort to prioritize. So far I have been finding the some operators to be mostly helpful and a few have been really great.
I have what I believe are 88 valid deeds in 24 counties but most are really small NMAs and leases in only 4 counties in 3 states! Attorney fees and filing fees to correct 4 changes of ownership since the royalty rights were purchased would be huge if I tried to address them all right now.
But I have to say again . . . this Forum has been a God-send for me. Thanks to so many people like you, I have learned soooooo much. Thank you to each and everyone!
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