I am looking for an attorney to look into an operator’s failure to pay on a “producing” well. We contend that this lease has expired for nonpayment and the operator is being difficult to say the least. Thanks in advance.
Many very good attorneys can be found by clicking on the DIRECTORIES tab above, then click on MINERAL SERVICES tab.
We have a number of different mineral acres in Canadian County, Oklahoma. For 60 years (sixty) we have used the Bass Law Firm in El Reno, right in Canadian County. Their office has grown in El Reno, but the best Oil and Gas Attorney is Robert Stell who is now in the Oklahoma City Bass Law Firm Office. My suggestion is to call the Oklahoma City Bass Law Firm Office and ask to talk to Robert Stell’s paralegal. She is a wonderful person, will sort out what you need quickly, and direct you to the right person. Bass Law has a paralegal that grew up in this area, knows all the courthouses and how to search very quickly. Wonderful, honest attorneys and paralegals. Bass Law. Disclaimer, we are Iowa Mineral Owners, with 30 wells or laterals producing, and have learned when to use an attorney. Sounds like you need to at least seek legal advice. Lease termination can depend on a lease written 50 plus years ago, and some were written with “Non Production” clauses and some were not. Old leases are on file, it takes (in my opinion) a paralegal or Landsman to find them. Then you need an expert to determine what the lease states, and how the Corporation Commission legal views the wording of the lease. Our father, that started leasing in the late 1940s, cautioned me that production companies have legal staff and individual mineral owners can easily spend more money solving a problem than the payback. Proceed with caution. Hope this helps.
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An added footnote to the post above. The older vertical wells Division Orders were based on 640 mineral acres. With so many relatives being part of inheritance, oftentimes mineral ownership has been divided many times. We have had great success in locating other family members that will help pay attorney’s costs. Still, if you have the lease, if you have only several mineral acres, this may not be worth pursuing. However, if there was a farm in the 1950s, and the mineral acres are still together, there can be as much as 80 to 160 mineral acres, and that will allow more payback if successful. The formula is Mineral acres / 640. So, 2 mineral acres divided by 640 is not much or 0.001325. 160 mineral acres divided by 640 is far more or 0.25.
If you are saying or asserting that the operator hasn’t paid royalties, therefore the lease has terminated, you will be disappointed. The failure to pay royalties is not grounds for cancellation or termination of an oil and gas lease. If that is what you’re asserting, it does create a debt which is owed.
A possibility is that the well has very low production and you have not met your minimum royalty amount for payment. Many division orders are set at $100. You can reset it at $25.00. Check your lease for the timeline for production to cease.
If you want to give the name of the well and its location, we can check the production. Or you can check on the OK tax site. https://oktap.tax.ok.gov/oktap/web/_/. Use the Help Box and look under the Public PUN site.
Another possibility is that the well has been sold to another operator and they are in the middle of the handoff.
Been there…no reported production. And yes it’s been sold over 18 months ago and docs filed with OCC. Am I wrong to assume that it is the operator’s responsibility to prove/pay royalty within the terms of the lease? It’s on the operator to meet those terms regardless if they are in the “middle of a handoff”.
Have you checked to see if there is actual production? If so, then send a demand letter for payment and interest by certified mail return receipt and keep copies of everything for a clear paper trail. That might get them off of dead center.
If no production, then there is nothing to sell. Ask them for a release of lease to be filed in the county courthouse. Send a certified letter. Check the terms of your lease first to make sure you do not have any holding clauses such as shut in for a certain term or any others.
For now I can only look at the TAP site for production history, which there is none. We have sent CLs and are following up. Operator is not being very cooperative.
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