I thought you'd all like to hear this: Trenton ND is getting a new "RailStation"! that's what is holding up alot of drilling, no place to ship the black gold! To the Gulf of course... this is all so interesting! Ever wonder WHY Halliburton's mischief in the Gulf??? anyone???
Just confront them about the misrepresentation in the lease, don't sign until they change it back to the verbal!
After trying to screw us I’m thinking about demanding a 45 day draft and I’ll keep the lease til it’s paid. I lost all trust in them for this and a couple more things. : )
Have they made you an acceptable offer then? Set up an escrow with the draft and the executed lease, then inform the lease agent that North Dakota is a RACE state and you are by no means bound to accept their offer, if you receive a better one in the meantime. Or don’t tell them and let it be a surprise. It might speed them up on running title and making payment, knowing they can still lose it.
I’d be interested in finding out if there is an alternative site for checking if companies are registered for doing business in ND, as the one previously posted could be outdated. Another company posting several new leases is M & W Mineral Brokers, LLC. that I’d like to know if they’re registered.
DG said:
Has anyone been able to figure out yet whether Blanca Peak Energy LLC is registered to do business in the State of ND?
When Blanca initially came to ND, they were not registered to do business in this state with the ND Office of Secretary of State. After I informed them of this, they registered that same day. They also obtained an unemployment insurance tax account, and a state tax account – all required under ND State Law. Blanca’s standard operating procedure is to have a clause in their Order of Payment/Order for Payment, which is a separate document from the lease document, that states that they have the right to surrender the lease and payment of the lease at any time; however, if you insist as a condition of you signing a lease with them that they strike that clause out, they will. You can also insist on, for instance, a 30 day bank draft.
$300 an acre is NOT a good offer. Ask for WHAT you want, AND YOU WILL GET IT! Also, insist on a 30 day bank draft, keep the pugh clause in the agreement, and strike the first warranty item in the warranty clause. $300 is the lowest offer I have heard of !!! Also strike the surrender clause in the order of/order for payment, which is standard language in their contract, and initial it. Initial each page of the lease agreement and Order of Payment, so no pages will be “changed” We recently leased our mineral acres with Blanca.
Wes Luke said:
We have 5 leases with Blanca that supposedly was for a 90 day draft. When we got the lease it had 120 days on it. I'm considering fraud charges since the 90 day draft is a tool used for getting your minerals free for 4 months. But, 120 days is unheard of. :(
William Leverenz said:I recently received an offer from Roxann Nolan, representing Blanca Peak Energy LLC, for $300/acre for 3 years + 3 year option and 1/5 Royalty in Stark County, Township 137N, Range 99W, Section 33 & Section 35. Does anybody have information/feedback regarding this offer? Great? Good? Bad? We have not received any offer at all in quite a while, so this seems pretty good. I cannot find any information on Blanca Peak Energy LLC, which makes me a little nervous. Thanks for any feedback.
If you post this on the Dunn/Stark group you should get a better response.
Before you sign any lease, consider all the other oil bearing formations that are now accessible with our current technology (which continues to improve by leaps and bounds). What kind of Pugh Clause is included in the lease? Before you sign a lease, make sure you know the company's plan to develop your minerals and determine whether you can trust the company. What is the company going to do with your minerals once you sign the lease and the company gains exclusive control of the working interest? Is the company truly going to develop your mineral acres or assign the leasehold to a third party? Demand full, accurate and truthful disclosure--and ask them to put all of their positive assertions and promises in writing. If they are unwilling to do that, then that's a red flag. What kind of restrictions are you going to place in your lease concerning assignments? Do you want investors in foreign countries, e.g., Korea or China, to control the working interest in your minerals? What about pooling and unitization? Are you allowing the company to have unfettered discretion to pool and unitize? If so, why?
Why are you about to sign a lease when you haven't educated yourself? What's the rush? Don't learn your lessons the hard way like so many others have had to do. My family and I are embroiled in litigation right now because the company that pressured us to expedite the leasing process didn't tell us the truth! Be very cautious! Don't sign anything until you're 100 percent comfortable and you know how each and every clause in the lease is going to affect your interests.
I would also add that you should subscribe to the North Dakota Recorders Information Network and examine all the existing leases in your county and, in particular, your township. Which operating companies have the leases of mineral interests closest to yours? Who has DRILLING CONTROL? Contact all of them and inquire about their development plans for the area.
Also consider the current spacing unit practices of the NDIC--and ask WHY are these spacing units so large and how will the size of these spacing units dilute your interests. There is much to learn before you enter a contract that may adversely affect your interests and the interests of your children and grandchildren for a possible eternity. The devil is in the details.
I agree on the dilution of interests. It’s obvious this dilution was allowed to pander to the oil companies. Mineral owners in productive areas are a minority group, and many like me, don’t live in the state of N.D. I see nothing we can do about it now. The state sold the mineral owners out, and in a decade the largest part of good producing land will be leased and held by production, by 1 well on a 1280 spacing [ I have 6 such myself already ]. I believe the state will turn a deaf ear to any arguements, knowing that it is a short term problem. In a few years it will be a moot point, with 1 well per 1280, and “what’s done is done, and what can we do about it now”? will be all you hear. The general population of N.D. is going to get an income tax cut because of revenue coming from oil. I hear the roads in the west part of the state are deteriorated and will continue to get worse, why spend the money there when you have so many voters elsewhere? If the surface owners who do not own mineral rights are going to get extra compensation, I can make a good guess where the money will come from. I wish it were not so, but I’m think it may be a lost cause. The people who don’t own minerals think you are getting free money or hit the lottery, and as long as that is the case you will get no consideration or help from them.
DG said:
I would also add that you should subscribe to the North Dakota Recorders Information Network and examine all the existing leases in your county and, in particular, your township. Which operating companies have the leases of mineral interests closest to yours? Who has DRILLING CONTROL? Contact all of them and inquire about their development plans for the area.
Also consider the current spacing unit practices of the NDIC--and ask WHY are these spacing units so large and how will the size of these spacing units dilute your interests. There is much to learn before you enter a contract that may adversely affect your interests and the interests of your children and grandchildren for a possible eternity. The devil is in the details.
r w kennedy: The companies have no vested interest in retaining control over unproductive acres “by production.” Spacing orders are always subject to modification to increase or DECREASE the size in order to protect correlative rights. The NDIC has no power to protect “stakeholders” to the detriment of mineral owners. They need to actually develop the minerals within the term of the lease or allow them to revert back to the mineral owner.
Was I wrong to think that even several parcels of land, even if they are in different spacings, could be held by one well if the lease doesn’t contain a horizontal pugh clause? If the state is allowing them to pool the 1280 acres of a 2 section spacing, then aren’t they allowing them to be held by production if only 1 well is drilled?
rw kennedy: Maybe we aren't on the same page. I was talking about acres located within a spacing unit. When the spacing unit is 1280 acres, we know that it will take 8 wells to adequately drain oil from the Bakken Pool underlying the spacing unit. A company can apply to the NDIC for a forced pooling order and then all mineral acres in the spacing unit will be "held by production" from one well.
With respect to leasing, you should have a separate lease for each tract of land. If not, you need a carefully drafted Pugh Clause--not only as to mineral acres located in different tracts (that are likely to end up in different spacing units) but also as to formations.
I've learned a lot over the last year. Having leased my mineral interests to a company whose agents repeatedly lied to me, I rescinded my lease promptly upon learning of the fraudulent inducement. I am now in litigation to enforce the rescission. I firmly believe, but for the NDIC allowing companies to have extremely oversized spacing units, it would have been a lot harder for the company agents to commit fraud and think they could get away with it. In other words, the company would actually have to drill and develop the acres as they represented they were going to do or the minerals would revert back to the mineral owner at the end of the lease term.
William Leverenz said:
I recently received an offer from Roxann Nolan, representing Blanca Peak Energy LLC, for $300/acre for 3 years + 3 year option and 1/5 Royalty in Stark County, Township 137N, Range 99W, Section 33 & Section 35. Does anybody have information/feedback regarding this offer? Great? Good? Bad? We have not received any offer at all in quite a while, so this seems pretty good. I cannot find any information on Blanca Peak Energy LLC, which makes me a little nervous. Thanks for any feedback.
Robert,
While reading a lease from Blanca Peak
I noticed a clause that said the lease was in force for described land,
AND< AND< AND any property owned by me adjacent to the leased property ( touching it ) in any place would automatically include the adjacent property without additional lease money. For some people that could mean a LOT of money in Blanca Peak's pocket and empty pockets on the lessor's side. That's the kind of people you would be dealing with at Blanca Peak.
Wes Luke
well Empire Oil paid us only a hundred an acre, my old man just took it, because of his past experience, he had no clue what was going on now and I couldn’t get him to be patient and check it out, he just wanted to get it over with, thinking it was the still the 80’s, heh… sigh! His Aunt took the same deal, and they are supposed to get 1/6 th too, but Empire NEVER responds to our emails even tho the guy PROMISED they would keep in touch, so… I doubt they will even drill, EVER! Now my old man can’t even get foodstamps! so bummed!
janet r marquart said:
$300 an acre is NOT a good offer. Ask for WHAT you want, AND YOU WILL GET IT! Also, insist on a 30 day bank draft, keep the pugh clause in the agreement, and strike the first warranty item in the warranty clause. $300 is the lowest offer I have heard of !!!! Also strike the surrender clause in the order of/order for payment, which is standard language in their contract, and initial it. Initial each page of the lease agreement and Order of Payment, so no pages will be "changed" We recently leased our mineral acres with Blanca.
Wes Luke said:We have 5 leases with Blanca that supposedly was for a 90 day draft. When we got the lease it had 120 days on it. I'm considering fraud charges since the 90 day draft is a tool used for getting your minerals free for 4 months. But, 120 days is unheard of. :(
William Leverenz said:I recently received an offer from Roxann Nolan, representing Blanca Peak Energy LLC, for $300/acre for 3 years + 3 year option and 1/5 Royalty in Stark County, Township 137N, Range 99W, Section 33 & Section 35. Does anybody have information/feedback regarding this offer? Great? Good? Bad? We have not received any offer at all in quite a while, so this seems pretty good. I cannot find any information on Blanca Peak Energy LLC, which makes me a little nervous. Thanks for any feedback.