Let me first take this opportunity to thank everyone for the education information provided on this forum.
We have a piece of Land in Culberson County and is currently leased (both surface and subsurface). I have been receiving a request permission from DAWSON Geophysical Company to conduct a 3D geophysical survey on the land on behalf of TRNCO Petroleum Corp. Can we give them the permission even though we currently have a Lease covering the Land use with another company?
Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.
It depends on whether you granted the Lessee oil company the seismic rights when you leased your land. Read your oil and gas lease to determine if you granted them the right to conduct seismic. My best guess is that you have the seismic rights since you were contacted about granting the seismic permit, instead of the company you leased your minerals to.
I recommend that you seek professional assistance from a mineral manager or oil and gas attorney in negotiating the seismic permit.
I had a similar situation many years ago in the Barnett Shale in Texas. We were leased to a Company and a Geophysical Company contacted us to secure a seismic permit. They were under contract to another Operating Oil Company. I knew this could potentially be a problem so I contacted the land department of the Company we were leased too. Sure enough they did not want us to sign the seismic permit until they contacted the competing oil company. A few weeks later they negotiated an agreement, I assume, with the other Company and then gave us permission to sign the seismic permit. So I would advise contacting the Company you are leased with and notify them of this situation.
Ayodele,
Mike G. Gives good advice about contacting the mineral lessee. You really gave it the right to control exploration. Certainly the mineral lessee or assigns will want the seismic info and not be held up for it. In addition, seismic operations may damage the surface and adversely effect your surface lessee. The surface lease may limit your rights to commit the surface in any fashion without penalty. Check it out.
Thank you 6th Generation Texan, Mike and Gary for your insightful advise; you save us a lot of headache and any potential future problems. I really appreciate. Per your advise, I contacted our lessee and explained the situation to them. I got a reply back from them yesterday saying that they have no knowledge of the said contract and would object to giving them a permission to conduct a seismic survey. I think it would be wise of us to just leave it alone since our lessee has the right to both the surface and subsurface use agreement.
Thank you all.
What part of Culberson County are you in? I also have minerals there.
We are in Eastern part of Section 48, Block 59 TWP1. Out track borders Reeves County.
I’m in section 48 with you as well. They have a well permitted on us it’s called the Apollo 48, it’s a long lateral which is 2 miles long.