After inspecting my last statement I see where White Star has taking out all kinds of deductions that they are not suppose to (it’s clearly spelled out in my lease). This amounts to a substantial amount of money being deducted, even though they show zero deductions on the bottom line! I'm confused, could I be reading this wrong? Is anybody else having this problem with White Star?
Google wstr.com and take it from there. Try their land and/or accounting departments first.
Good luck,
Pat
You are not confused. Many oil and gas companies ignore the terms of their contract because there is not much you can do about it. You will be lucky to even get them to answer the phone.
Malone Petroleum Consulting
I am not having problems with White Star, but have had problems with several other companies. Call the company leave a message for 5 days in a roll at different time, if they don't return the call. Write a letter, mail certified, tell them that they haven't returned your calls and you will be turning it over to an attorney within 15 days unless you hear from them and they can explain why they are taking out deductions. Most companies will tell you it's an over site on their part. B_! and it will be corrected on your next check. Also, if it's not corrected, ask for interest. I have got as much as a couple thousand in interest because of their over site and it couldn't be corrected. Sometimes it has to be explained to them by a good oil & Gas attorney before they seem to understand. Good luck.
I’ve had problems getting a hold of anyone with Marathon Oil Company. I have an oil & gas lease signed by my great grand parents for a federal unit in Northwest Wyoming. The lease was originally signed in 1930 and updated in 1935. The first lease was in effect for one year and the second lease was in effect for five years. The most prevalent words at the top of the lease in bold type are Oil & Gas Lease followed by the discription of the land and the size was about 47 acres. Further down in the lease two paragraphs are lined out on the copy that Marathon sent me. The two paragraphs suggest the lease is for oil only. The Big Horn Basin is known as the Saudi Arabia of Natural gas. They have been producing oil & gas from this field for many years without any contract with my family. There are only two wells that were drilled on that particular 47 acres. The first well was drilled in 1973 which is 38 years after the 1935 lease lapsed and the second well which is the only horizontal well in the unit was drilled in 1985 some 50 years after the 1935 lease had lapsed. My dealings with Marathon have had to go through Merit Energy because there has been no way to get in touch with Marathon. Merit’s title people tell me that the unit agreement supersedes the 1930 and 1935 leases. I don’t believe they are paying anyone else for their gas or condensate as well. I’m also aware of several othe wells that have been drilled on my mineral rights in the Garland field.
Bizjournals.com says that Marathon is dumping billions of its Canadian assets as large energy companies are pulling out of the oil sands region ... In the meantime, you can give it a try ...
Business Integrity
5555 San Felipe Street, Room 2919
Houston, TX 77056-2723
Phone: +1 877.713.8314 (toll free)
Fax: +1 713.296.2661
Email: integrity@marathonoil.com
For royalty payment inquiries
Marathon Oil Corporation
Royalty Relations
PO Box 21158
Tulsa, OK 74121-1158
Toll-Free: 888-522-8871
For ownership information inquiries
Marathon Oil Corporation
Division Order Department - 2069
5555 San Felipe Street
Houston, TX 77056
Good luck,
Pat
Thanks Pat. I’ll see what happens. I appreciate your assistance!
Thanks everyone! I never had any problem with Devon, but I've 'dropped the ball' with White Star! This is not good if they're ignoring what's spelled out in the lease. I'll go through all of my past statements and let you know their response! Although, I do need to learn how to read these statements better and pay more attention to the details because, I've just been glancing at the bottom line that stated -0- for deductions. What caught my eye was all of the above deductions from processing, marketing, transportation, fuel, gathering, oil gathering, etc., showing up minus (-) and plus (+) page after page amounting to a lot of money even though the bottom line shows -0-! I'll let everyone know ...
Kaye, keep me posted on White Star also, I am on the Payne County page, tx...bob
A little slow, but I will, Bob.
Virginia .. Yeah sure, an over site! Going straight in their pocket! lol WS has always responded to my emails, but they acted as though they have never had anyone question their statements before. Thanks for the info., since I may have to go that route.
Robert, think you're right, but I'm good at driving them nuts and usually, I always get what I want. Just takes time though!
It may be difficult to craft lease language which prevents post production deductions.
Post-Production Costs after Hyder by oil and gas attorney John McFarland
..."The lesson from these cases: a royalty clause, if based on proceeds received by the lessee, should also provide that "proceeds" means the price received in the first arms-length transaction between the lessee or any affiliate of lessee in a sale to a third party which is not an affiliate of lessee. "Affiliate" should be clearly defined. Heritage disclaimers don't work. And always avoid "at the well" or "on the lease" language in a royalty clause.'
A J,
If you keep up with things and have a good oil & gas attorney, you can do a pretty good job. I have about 2 to 3 pages of addendum on most of my leases.
I think the judge who was over the Hyder case was probably working for the oil company. But, that is only my thought. Sometimes when you go to court, you draw a bad judge who don't care for mineral owners. But, most of the time they are fair.
Hi, Virginia. Did you read John McFarland's paper which is linked in the article I shared? I am not suggesting it applies to you, but apparently one can have pages of modifying addenda negated on the turn of a word or due to being considered surplusage. Scary stuff.
A J,
I am well aware of the Hyder case and what took place. John McFarland is a very good attorney and I have heard him speak several times. You do have to be careful of how your addendum are wrote. Also, we are now dealing with a lot of foreign companies and their laws aren't like ours, so you really have to be careful. That is why a person needs an oil and gas attorney and someone who deals with it everyday. I know lots of good general attorney's and they can do a good job. But, do you want your brain operation by a general doctor?
AJ .. My lease does have it clearly spelled out (basically, so a child could read and understand it), but not as your describing above. My problem is that with Devon I never had any problem reading their statements, but White Star has me completely confused as to what the heck they're doing and whether or not if they're deducting any post production costs. Not only that, which I've read others complaining too about nothing ever seems to match up on the OTC gross productions, and they seem never be able to keep it current! Sometimes I've been tempted to think that this may be a way to keep us all confused about how much they're really producing, but I'm sure NO OIL COMPANY would ever think about cheating the lowly little royalty owner .. now would they .. haha
I just got my 1099's from Whitestar and discovered that they have been deducting for Federal taxes. Went back to my statements and it looks likes they stated deducting for Fed tax in October check thru Jan. 2018. I have never authorized Whitestar to make Fed deductions. I have also noticed, since Oct. /2017, that they have been placing state withholding and severance tax in the severance tax column.on the statements.
I am calling my attorney today to see what we can do. I have written them regarding other issues in the pass and its takes them 3 to 4 weeks to get back to you.
If your wells are in OK, then most operators will normally withhold state income taxes. You will need to file an income tax return in OK to determine if you owe more or are due a refund. Federal taxes will be withheld unless you have submitted a W-9 form to the operator. You do not authorize the operator to withhold federal income taxes, but instead the W-9 form contains a statement that you are not subject to backup withholding and therefore the operator can send you 100% of the royalties.
Do you have a phone number for W/S land office or do you know now to get the number?