Aruba Petroleum

Hello to all,

Has anyone had any dealings with Aruba Petroleum or Gunther Land Management? I received a letter from them containing a "Stipulation of Interest", and I called Gunther and never really received any answers to my questions that I had. This land has divided interest in it thru heir ship, and I wanted to know who else, or how many others are on this deed. They would not share any of this information with me. Also the mineral interest and royalty interest is showing decimal points, so I asked him to clear this up in laymen terms, he basically called me ignorant and would not answer my questions.

Help, new to this.

Steve K.

Sorry you got hold of a non-professional. Attitude in this business is everything

Hi, Stephan -

On behalf of Landmen everywhere, I apologize to you for anyone with Gunther Land Management's having acted in such an unprofessional manner. I have been a Landman for more than 37 years and have only run into such behavior a handful of times. It is never very impressive.

To my experience, a Stipulation would be a Stipulation and Cross-Conveyance, with all of the parties agreeing and conveying between themselves the interests set out - not just an instrument with a single party listed. All parties to any instrument conveying title have to be identified in the instrument for it to be valid.

I suggest you contact Aruba Petroleum in Plano, Texas at 972-312-9366 and ask to speak to the head of their Land Department. I am certain you will be treated in a more professional manner by them.

Hope this helps -

Charles Emery Tooke III

Certified Professional Landman

Fort Worth, Texas

PS: To convert a decimal interest to a percentage figure, which many people find easier to understand, multiply the decimal interest by 100. (0.05 x 100 = 5/100ths or 5%).

The reply is unacceptable and proves the company's culture. They have already failed the 1st level of trust.

Thanks Charles, I will give the head person a call.

Steve K.

Do NOT sign any legal document without fully understanding all of its terms and conditions. (1) You must have the full and complete stipulation of interest agreement to see exactly what property is involved (legal description may contain not only acreage but also burdens such as an NPRI) and all the parties and what they will own in the minerals and how any burdens are being charged against each owner's mineral interest. For example, is an NPRI being assessed across all of the minerals proportionately or against only some of the minerals? (2) You want to make sure that the minerals are limited to a specific tract or tracts and that this will not apply to any other property that you may own. (3) Do you have all of the deeds and assignments that were filed of record? If not, demand that these be supplied so that you can see the ownership history. The stipulation of interest should only be setting forth the agreement among the owners as to how the tract is really owned based on the deeds, not based on someone's demand for property. It may be that a burden was carved out after your minerals were separated and should only apply to other interests. (4) Ask for a spreadsheet which traces the ownership and assignments over time. This is rather like a family tree. A gave to B and C. B gave to 3 sons (D, E & F) and C sold to G. etc. Then you need to see the calculation of how the minerals were divided - 100/100 and then into 16 parties with various fractional interests - eg A has 1/100, B has 3/100, C has 15/100, etc. (5) It is also improper to have the ownership listed as decimals. The proper method is to use fractions, even if they are out to 5 or more digits. So if that requires A's interest to be 999/15000 then that is what it should be. (6) You should be very concerned about what the meaning of the royalty interest is. Do you have an active lease with a well? Then it might be the royalty decimal for the well and that should not be in a recordable legal document. If there is no lease, then is this royalty interest an NRPI of some kind? (7) It may be that this request is related to a lease and well and is intended to be a division order and not a binding legal stipulation of interest. This is not what you want to do. If there is a question of ownership within the heirs, it is in everyone's long-term best interests to settle the ownership for the future. Otherwise as people die or sell minerals, the process has to be started again. (8) Do not let the land company bully you by claiming that they paid for a drilling title opinion from an attorney and so you are not entitled to that DTO. You are being asked to sign and agree with the DTO and need to see it. In my experience there are often of errors in DTO, even as prepared by attorneys - from incorrect names to reversed fractional interests. Also deeds can be missed by the landman and so the information is not accurate. This may take some work on your part and you need to be able to talk with the other owners. Good luck!