Didnt know I had mineral rights

Pennsylvania Mineral Rights Greene County, PA
1

Hello

I received a packet of forms with a letter about some mineral rights i apparently own. I am in California and dont know anything about natural gas and i didn’t even know I had family in PA let alone family that had bought mineral rights. So if I misstate this i apologize in advance. Does this happen a lot? I mean people out of the blue getting these lease letters? I looked up the information online and it doesn’t have my name on it, so how did this happen to find me?

Maybe i could get some good information from you all who know more about this, it seems like i am being offered a very low deal. I probably need an attorney but as i am on ssdi i am low in funds to pay one. I hear there may be some that work off a percentage of the signing bonus? The info in the letter from eqt via bop acquisition states: perry township, Greene County PA, 3.232 acres then including that certain real property described in deed by Johnson and Mary Rose dated june 29,1923 recorded in deed book463 page 193 instrument number 195100001298. Also has tax map number 20-02-0153 .

The lease is written as 5 yr with option of another 5. There is an order of payment 100 dollars per square acre payable 120 days and another 60 after written notice if they dont pay by 120. I am unable to find the part with royalties atm but i am sure it said 16%net. Please help me understand this. I could really use an influx of cash to pay back bills etc. but 300$ sign bonus is not going to do it. Who is bop acquisition? I dont see anything other than that as far as money so is the signing bonus the “lease amount” plus whatever royalties are due? Or is there a monthly amount paid to actually lease that acreage and i am not seeing it? Because I dont know anything for lease at 300$ for 5 years. Perhaps that is normal for mineral rights and this is why i came here. I appreciate any help and direction I can get from you here. I was advised not to call the guy at bop because “these guys are very charismatic and know how to talk people into signing for very little money”. Since it is a small acreage amount can i do this without an attorney or is that not advisable? And finally does this mean that i have family in greene county?

Thanks

Janet

2

Get an attorney. They got your name off an inheritance. A lot of counties property tax oil and gas production also.

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Yes, this can happen out of the blue. Ask the agent how they found your name and what relatives ancestry path point to you. Save for your records. Do you know who Johnson and Mary Rose are in your family tree?

Personally, I would not sign for five years and then another option for five. It implies a long hold time and is not in your favor. I prefer three years and no option.

EQT is the main operator in Perry and has quite a few permits for long horizontal wells. BOP Acquisition is a land company that works for operators. Looks like they are working for EQT for this area.

In leasing, you get a one time bonus up front for the acreage upon leasing or a force pool for the time of the lease (3-5 years). If there is an option to extend, then you would want another payment. Many agents do not offer that. Options can have negative legal consequences, so I am not fond of them.

Then upon the completion of the wells (which could be months to years from now), you will get monthly royalty payments based upon your net acres and the royalty amount agreed upon. Having 3.232 acres out of a well that is three miles long is not a lot of money, but they may drill more than one well, so that would be good.

The Mineral Help tab above gives a good overview of how this business works.

The first offers for leasing start out low and then usually work up a bit. Ask for a little bit more and see if they will budge.

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Janet,

Please note at the outset that I am not an attorney and nothing below constitutes legal advice. That said, your instincts on several points are sound, and I can explain what you are looking at.

Does this happen often?

Yes — this is very common in Pennsylvania, and particularly in Greene County. In the 1800s and early 1900s, landowners frequently sold the surface of a farm while reserving the oil and gas beneath it, or purchased the minerals separately, as your 1923 deed suggests. Those mineral interests are often never sold again. They pass down by inheritance, generation after generation, typically without probate and without anything further being recorded, and usually without the heirs knowing the interest exists. Decades later, an operator wants to drill, hires a land company to trace the chain of title, and letters go out to people across the country who have never heard of the property.

This is also why your name does not appear in the online records. The county index still reflects the last person to sign a deed — likely your ancestor in 1923. Inheritance transfers title automatically by operation of law, with no document required to be recorded. You may well own the interest; the courthouse index simply does not carry your name. The land company located you by working forward through wills, obituaries, census records, and genealogical sources.

Who is BOP Acquisition?

BOP Acquisition, LLC is a land services company headquartered in Pittsburgh, founded in 2018, that handles leasing, right-of-way acquisition, title curative work, and mineral purchasing across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. They are a contractor acting as the intermediary. EQT, a major Appalachian producer, is the company that would actually hold your lease. This is a standard arrangement.

The bonus payment

The bonus is a one-time payment made for signing the lease. Your offer reads as $100 per net acre, which is very low for the Appalachian Basin. Current per-net-acre bonus pricing generally runs between $3,500 and $7,500 per net acre.

Before you respond, I would recommend calling the landman who sent the letter and asking for more information — specifically, the net mineral acreage they have credited to you and the title Runsheet showing how they traced the interest to you. The 3.232 acres cited is the gross tract. Your actual ownership may be a small undivided fraction of that tract after generations of division among heirs. As an example, you could own 0.0225 net acres out of the 3.232 gross acres.

Once you know your net acreage and the correct market rate, the difference between what is being offered and what the interest is worth will likely justify the cost of retaining an oil and gas attorney.

The royalty

The royalty is your share of production revenue, and it is paid only if a well is drilled and your tract is included in a producing unit. The amount depends on the volume produced from the well or wells, the prevailing market price of natural gas, and the net mineral acreage you own.

In Greene County, 16% to 20% is typical. The more important point is the wording: you want the royalty calculated cost-free at the wellhead. A “net” royalty allows the operator to deduct post-production costs — gathering, compression, processing, and transportation — before calculating your share. Those deductions can be substantial, and a 16% net royalty can pay less than a lower gross royalty. Ask for “gross proceeds, free of all post-production costs.”

I hope this helps you on your journey with what you have been presented with.

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My husband got the exact same letter with lease, addendum, Memorandum, Order of payment, w-9 and 1099 with return postage for the exact same 3.232 acres of Johnson and Mary J. Rose.

Could this be a colossal scam? We are in Florida and do not know the landowners etc.

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Sekchurch, this isn’t a scam—your husband owns a percentage interest in a mineral estate. If you read the response to Janet, you’ll understand how this works: a mineral reservation was created back in the 1800s/1900s, and the family members who originally held it have spread out over generations. As ownership passed down, the gross acreage got divided among descendants, so what you hold now is a percentage of that original interest.

EQT is a legitimate company—one of the largest natural gas producers in the Appalachian Basin, based in Pittsburgh. I’d encourage you to look them up yourself. BOP Acquisitions is a brokerage firm that represents EQT in these deals.

My suggestion would be to call the person who reached out to you and ask any questions or share any concerns you have directly with them.

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