I have minerals in Midland and Glasscock County, Texas that have had existing vertical well production for years. The operator just recently completed several horizontal wells and began reporting production starting December 2022. This mineral estate was an inheritance, so I had not verified the decimal interest on the old vertical wells but decided to make sure everything checked out on the new division orders.
The title is very straightforward, and I found a small discrepancy on the decimal interest being reported to me. I reached out to the operator and explained the discrepancy over email (They are impossible to reach via phone). The division order analyst let me know that the new wells were set up based on the old vertical wells, so they would need to rerun title and have a 3rd party broker also verify everything.
It has been months, and they will not give an update as to when I can expect this to be corrected and new division orders sent. They just keep telling me it is going to take some time. Meanwhile, all of the interest is being held in suspense, and this is a very significant sum of money. It feels like the operator is dragging their feet.
Does anyone have advice/ideas on ways I can encourage them to hurry this process along as playing nice is apparently not getting me anywhere? Also, can I force the operator to pay interest on these funds being held up in suspense? I have checked the title myself, and it is relatively straightforward (I have years of experience running title and purchasing/selling mineral rights in Texas). I understand this is a process but seems the operator should have done this work before drilling these wells.