12% interest on unpaid royalties

Can anyone send me a copy of the law that oil and gas companies have to send the 12% interest on royalties paid after six months of production on a new well? Casillas finally sent our royalty check for starting Dec. 2018 through April 2020 but with no interest payment. I have sent 2 registered letters to them about the interest and received the mail return receipt signed by them. When I last talked to the land people that were taking all their calls the man didn’t act like he knew of the interest payment law and had me sent him an email again stating that it was expected. A have a call into them now because of course no one is manning the phones and I had to talk to a voice mail which said they’d get back to me. Would like to have a copy of that law if and when they call me. Thanks!

§52-570.10. Payment of proceeds from sale of oil and gas production. :: 2014 Oklahoma Statutes :: US Codes and Statutes :: US Law :: Justia. with the new section added…D. 1. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph 2 of this subsection, where proceeds from the sale of oil or gas production or some portion of such proceeds are not paid prior to the end of the applicable time periods provided in this section, that portion not timely paid shall earn interest at the rate of twelve percent (12%) per annum to be compounded annually, calculated from the end of the month in which such production is sold until the day paid. 2. a. Where such proceeds are not paid because the title thereto is not marketable, such proceeds shall earn interest at the rate of (i) six percent (6%) per annum to be compounded annually for time periods prior to November 1, 2018, and (ii) the prime interest rate as reported in the Wall Street Journal for time periods on or after November 1, 2018, calculated from the end of the month in which such production was sold until such time as the title to such interest becomes marketable or the holder has received an acceptable affidavit of death and heirship in conformity with Section 67 of Title 16 of the Oklahoma Statutes, or as set forth in subparagraph b of this paragraph. Marketability of title shall be determined in accordance with the then current title examination standards of the Oklahoma Bar Association.

Sure appreciate this M… Hope you are doing well!

I am baffled that it requires a certified letter or any other cajoling to get a company operating in Oklahoma to adhere to the laws under which they are operating. Do they think they are above the law? Are there any class actions against them. Casillas owes me interest on the Prairie 33-28 and they know that they owe the money. Now they have sold the well without letting the royalty owners know it so we sit around wondering why they didn’t pay in July. I only learned by going to the electronic well data and seeing the 1073. So now I have to wonder when CPRP Services LLC is going to pay and I have to battle Casillas to get the interest that they owe by black letter law. What a system.

I heard that a new company had bought or taken over Casillas (or at least some of their wells) and let Greg Casillas go. That is just coffee shop talk so not sure. The person told me we would probably be getting some papers soon telling us of the new owner. As I said earlier we have received the check which covered about a year and a half of product sales off of the Sierra well but have not received the interest owed us so I don’t know whether the new company will owe us the interest (surely it will). I was also told by a man that lives in the area that they had “capped” the well but I believe they probably meant shut it in and was thinking it was probably because oil about that time went down to around 0. So I wasn’t surprised that we didn’t get the monthly check for July. If anyone hears anything else about all this I’d appreciate it if they would share it. Thanks!

I recently received a class action lawsuit settlement against Cimarex. I also received a royalty check & was informed that would be my last payment from them. I thought they were in receivership due to bankruptcy

Just realized I said Cimarex but meant Casillas

Casillas sold a lot of their wells to CPRP SERVICES LLC

Yes, that’s what I had heard. If our Sierra well was one of them I wonder if the new company or Casillas would still be responsible for the interest they owe. Do you know?

My guess is the same company, less Greg Casillas. Only changed the name from Casillas Petroleum Resources Partners, LLC to CPRP Services, LLC. More than likely has to do with the $200 million lawsuit with Continental.

Looking back at our Division Order on the Sierra well the letterhead said CPRP Services, LLC on it but since the body of the letter talked about Casillas I didn’t think much about it. So I guess CPRP had already taken over the well then. I tried to call the number it gave as reference but just got answering machine and they haven’t called me back. Guess I shouldn’t have told them what I was calling about. lol (The interest owed us)

I called the phone number for the guy who signed the 1073 for CPRP and it was answered by a machine saying “You have reached Casilla’s front desk”. What form would be required to be filed when they shut in a currently producing well? That may be the only way we find out…

Nothing required to be filed & nobody has to be notified to shut in a well. Time will tell.

Gross Production OTC site has production for the Sierra 1-32-29 WXH well through June for gas and April for Oil .

For shut in wells, you would have to compare your check stubs from month to month to see which ones go missing.

Thanks, M…Are there any rules as to how long they can leave producing wells shut in? I figured after oil went back up they might open back up but like I said before I’d just as soon they leave the oil in the ground until prices go up but I would like to get the interest on the amount they paid us on the last check.

Each company is going to have their own strategy. They want to make money just like the royalty owner. However, they usually have a larger portfolio with many wells, so they will allocate which wells they open and when. If they completely shut down a well, it costs money to shut down properly and money to open up properly, so they will factor that in.

There are no rules as to how long they can shut in. You would have to look at your lease to see how long they have before they have to start paying the shut in payments. My leases have a time limit on them of one-two years to pay shut in and then they lose the lease. An incentive for them to open the well or have to re-lease to me again. Keep fussing about the interest on the previous payments. If the well is shut in, then no royalties are coming, so not interest on those months, but the previous months’ interest would continue to compound.

Since the lease was HBP from some old wells when they drilledl the Sierra well I don’t suppose it would benefit us any to press the issue of reopening the wells as far as being able to release to them.

Correct. If Sierra is still online, than it holds the lease and the old wells are mute. You just hope they open them back. It may be more expensive to open them up than they are worth if they are really old almost dead wells anyway.

I guess the little old wells have not been shut in since other companies are operators on them. We get tiny checks on them about every 6 months. The newest Casillas well is the one we were told was closed in ( The friend aid capped but I’m sure he meant closed in).

See if you get a check from Casillas this month (or the new holding company)