Hi Everyone, My elderly Mother and her older siblings have all received contracts sent by Antero (unsolicited contracts). At first there was an offer of a $500 signing “bonus”. Now the latest mailed contract seems to indicate that if my mother does nothing and ignores the contract, that is equal to allowing the lease to be set up for Antero. This whole thing seems very suspect, and honestly my Mother is worried she’s being scammed. We don’t have the money to hire an attorney, and Anteros insistence for a response makes me concerned. Is this a scam? By not responding, is my Mother “agreeing” to something that will actually or potentially COST her money? We’re not wealthy, this is something my Mother and siblings apparently “inherited” from relatives. Please help if you can. If you don’t have constructive responses, please don’t share them. Thanks!
@Bamboozled Yeah definitely be careful, but it all depends on the size of your interest. How big of an interest do they have you at? If its tiny, then there isnt too much you can do other than look for a Gross clause and some other lease goodies.
One thing I’d recommend doing is giving a call out to a mineral company or two. Google your area “West Virginia mineral buyers” and ask them as oftentimes they will at least give you good advice on your leasing - and its generally free
Bamboozled, There is a Co-Tennecy law in West Virginia and that’s what you got for the last correspondence with Antero. I would call the Landman and discuss this.
Antero is a large operator, so it’s definitely not a scam. If you don’t do/sign anything and they drill a well which sounds like they are about to do then yes, they would control the terms of the lease and it won’t be in your favor. It’s in your best interest to sign a lease before the well is drilled so you can negotiate the terms.
@Mineral_Owner5 is absolutely right, you don’t have to accept Antero’s offer.
The other thing I’d add is that you need to always remember that Antero’s landman has one goal in mind, to sign the best possible lease for Antero, which would be the worst possible lease for you. Doesn’t matter how nice he seems, he’s not here to educate you or to get you a fair deal.
Having said that there are some good landmen out there, you just have to educate yourself to be able to negotiate from a place of knowledge not a place of dependence.
Thank you all for your responses. If I understand this at all, it seems as if my mother owns a very small portion of an area that Antero is going to be mining for minerals and gas. My mother’s aunt must’ve purchased a portion of this area and handed it down to her relatives.
The ownership of this bit of area hasn’t been something my mother or her siblings have really had to do anything with. I don’t think they receive any steady income from it.
But now, Antero wishes to lease this land from my mother and others who own little bits of the area.
*why don’t they offer to purchase it outright?
*If Antero leases the land, and through their mining cause damage to the land/area, are the owners who agreed to lease their portions responsible for the damages?
*offering $500 to land owners to quickly agree to lease their land seems shady, and so does the urgency and insistence of their mailings. Across all the land owners, making that $500 bonus and mailing thick contracts via overnight…really makes it seem like Antero is willing to spend a lot because they expect to make much much more. In my limited experience, people general don’t chase you down to make sure you receive money, rather the opposite.
*My mother really isn’t looking to complicate her life and taxes. She basically would like to ignore this. If she does, I worry that she is default agreeing to something potentially detrimental to her.
@MO5, I’m retired and have never worked for an operator. So your advice would be to not sign a lease, well is drilled and be “force pooled”? Talking about horrible advice!
The mineral owners are not liable for damages, only the working interest owners.
Offers often have a relatively quick timeline. The operators do plan to make a lot more. They are taking all the risk of drilling the well and are paying millions of dollars to do so. They are required to try to find all of the mineral owners and try to get a lease from them.
Do not ignore this. She can choose to sell her minerals or she can choose to lease, but she does not have to take Antero’s first offer. She is not getting any money from the minerals now, but if the well is successful, then she will. There may be future infill wells, so one must look farther into the future. The first draft of the lease will not be in her favor, but will be in the favor of the operator. If the relatives band together to share the cost, it would be wise to get an oil and gas attorney to look at the lease and make edits that would be more in their favor. Then they all benefit and have identical leases. If they cannot, then they will get the offer as is and at least get the signing bonus and whatever royalties that might come in the future. When I am offered a lease, I always ask for a slightly higher bonus and a higher bonus. I ask what is the best that you are offering. The first offers are usually lowball, just to see who will bite.