A natural gas rig is going up on my neighbors property right now as I type, this rig is 200 or 300 yards away from my property, I own around 5 acres currently, but 19 acres worth of mineral rights by which the oil company is sucking right out from under me most likely. Shouldn’t I be entitled to reimbursement for what they’re taking via my neighbors property? The rig isn’t on any of the property I own or have mineral rights for, but it’s literally just a couple hundred yards away from mine, so shouldn’t I be reimbursed some for whatever the rig produces?
I checked the deed from 1966 (it’s been in my family since then) and the
previous owner only reserved “1/4th of 1/8th of all the oil, gas, and
other minerals in, on, under or that may be produced from the described
property” when it was sold to us for himself. I’m going to have to check previous deads, so I believe I should own the large majority of the rights.
If your property is in Texas, the short answer is probably not. Texas does not enjoy equitable pooling.
In the near future, I will put up a blog to hit the high points of this very common situation. I gave a speech late last year at a landmen’s convention on pooling and unitization in Texas and over the course of several blogs, I will serve it up here.