I obtained a Mineral Lease from my father and two years ago I leased the rights to Anschutz Exploration.
Oil was found in October of 2010. In march of this year I started to receive Royalty interest payments from Anschutz.
But at the issue of the Division order the Senior Order Anschutz at Anschutz informed me that they were credited me with .1875 160.03/1280.32 with the decimal interest of 0.00292896. I was told that my checks would be based on this but perhaps an additional payment might be made in the future. It seems in 1953 a fraction of the net 20 acres was held back for some unknown reason; overlooked, rounded off, who knows. This amount is an of .00002343 with a decimal interest of 0.00000055.
I was told that I could contact heirs of the original party who sold by father the lease to settle this. I would have to get statement from them that the original small acreage was meant to be transfer with the total to my father and go through the necessity ND legal proceedings to include probate to get a complete free title. I doubt that any lease pr paper trail exhist on this small interest.
Since I was getting paid by Anschutz for my interest and the other parties was small I figured it wouldn’t be reasonable to go through the time, trouble and expense of these legal actions. I was just going to let it ride.
Now the kicker, Anschutz has sold all their interest in ND. My interest to Oxy.
Oky now tells me that they are holding up all my interest payments and that I would have to go through the same hoops Anschutz required.
Questions. Why didn’t Anschutz contact the heirs originally? Is this not the job of the land agent. If they have a claim should it not have been leased before drilling.
Is this legal for Oxy to withhold my interest payments. Why shouldn’t they be responsible to contact the heirs (Billings MT) ?
Would it be worth my while to go through NDIC Oil and Gas for their help in getting my Royality payments released?
Why is it necessary for me to hire attorneys and go through this costly mess when I had nothing to do with it?
Any information that would be helpful would be appreciated. Be aware out there.