My ancestors from my Mothers, paternal & maternal side came into West Virginia back in the middle 1600’s coming down through the Cumberland and Appalachian Mountains as explorers and mappers.
Then in the late 1600’s to early 1700’s they started the track back to what is now called West Virginia. Some Tomahawked there land boundaries in the counties we know as of today as Tyler, Doddridge, Wetzel, Kanawha, Monongalia, Harrison, Lewis,.
Now I find Myself fighting to keep our Ancestral Mineral Rights and Service Rights. First it was StatOil , then EQT and now we have Antero. My mom had 7 kids 5 Sons and 2 daughters. All but 4 of us have received Antero Contracts and the reasoning behind is due to the fact Antero has ownership of our original Mineral Right Agreements and are trying to use them. That had a 5 year period from 2015 to 2020.
The land in Tyler County is under 3rd Great Grandfather Robert P. Anderson & Mary Weekly( Anderson) 2nd Great Grandfather Thomas D. Anderson & Rachel P. Keller (Anderson) Great Grandfather Robert Greer “Bud” Anderson & Ollie M. Swiger (Anderson), 2nd Great-Granduncle David Edgar Anderson
We do know that Alliance drilled the Oil and Gas Well and then capped it. I have taken a photo copy of the Antero Agreement that I received my youngest sister to Oil and Gas law firm here in Texas and they crossed out all the clause and said for my family to renegotiate for a new agreement with protection added for the Heirs. Has anyone else here from Tyler ran into the same problems with Antero?
I called the guy today. Haven’t heard back. We didn’t sign because we didn’t know we could without having all four signatures. Our land is caught up in an estate at the moment.
The one thing you need to understand about mineral rights Leases there are clause set up to protect the Oil and Gas company and not the Heirs. Here what I have come across in ours : this is the response I sent Antero: You have what is called a Catch 22 agreement attached to this Antero new Mineral Rights Agreement that none of the Heirs of Dora Olive Parker are not going to agree too:
A) Automatic Extended Indefinite clause after the 5-year agreement for Oil and Gas,
B) Post Production Expenses and Cost,
C) Title Issues,
D) Interest & taxes paid by Mineral Rights Heirs,
E) Antero or Affiliates Can sell the Mineral Rights to a second or third party,
This is what I asked for in the renegotiation: We want a No Warranty Of Title Clause that shows our ownership of mineral rights or a Special Warranty Of Title Clause that doesn’t make any promises, we also want a Hold Harmless Clause for the Mineral Rights Heirs under our Mother Dora Olive Parker, we are also requesting a Marcellus Shale Formation Limit
Subject: Antero has until June 11, 2021 to respond: Renegotiation of Antero Mineral Rights Agreement Contract Dated May 26, 2021, 2nd Great Grandfather Thomas D. Anderson 10.25 acres Muddy Creek Ellsworth District Tyler County West Virginia & Great Grandfather Robert Greer Anderson 10.25 acres Muddy Creek, Ellsworth District Tyler County West Virginia
Did Antero ask you for a new lease or a modification of an existing lease? Either way, there are some things in common that you’ll want to ask for. First, more money. Lease bonuses in Tyler should be around $3000/acre right now, and modification bonuses start at $200 and go up to about $1000, depending on how badly they want your property and how much property you control. Royalties on a new lease will probably end up at 16-17%, and on a modification you might be able to get a slight bump up from where the royalties currently are. Always get a No Warranty of Title clause, a Hold Harmless clause, a Formation Limit (Marcellus shale only), and Notification of Assignment (so somebody will tell you if the lease gets sold to another company). Good luck, and have fun!
Shut-in is when a well that could produce gas is turned off. Usually it’s to do maintenance on the pipeline or some equipment, but sometimes it’s because the company can’t get the price they want for the gas. In a shut-in situation they promise to pay you some money in lieu of the royalties they would be paying you if they were producing. Usually it’s $1-$10/acre/year. You can get $25 just for asking, and if you push you can get as much as $150. I always ask for $250 and see what they’ll come up to.
Khibbs, the shut-in amount is usually $1.00 a net mineral an acre when they shut the wells in. You can negotiate up to $25 or more an acre on the shut-in.
If you have a copy of a lease, please read the shut-in clause in the lease. The operator will pay you $1.00 an acre a year when they have to shut in and not produce for pipeline issues, nat gas price under a certain amount (for example $2.00 and lower), adding more legs, etc…