Jackie:
You use the term "drill in your actual section". As John Giehm has pointed out in his Feb 19th response, most of the wells Chesapeake is drilling are located in BLM Exploratory Units. Smith Creek is a BLM Unit. One of the reasons Chesapeake has applied for these BLM Units is to drill a longer horizontal well which may start in one section and end in another section. As an example, in the BLM Unit we are a part of, a well is sited in Section 20. There is no well shown for Section 29 which is directly South of Section 20. But when you look at the map attached to the well permit documents, you can see that only about 1/3 of the well is in Section 20 and the other 2/3rds is in Section 29. In the BLM Documents, it is clear that well participation will not be in accordance with Wyoming law. The BLM and the Oil company will determine which mineral owners are participating in a given well. The BLM has a method they will use. But back to our example. The royalty for the owner of minerals is still 18.75%. But when Chesapeake sends you the Division Order, if your minerals are only 1/3 of the minerals being drained by the well, your participation will be adjusted accordingly. The calculation is shown on the Division Order.
As more of us receive Division Orders, hopefully we will be able to learn enough to post accurate information of how participation is calculated. In my case, it is too early and I am not yet certain how it will all work out. I'll keep folks posted as I learn.
John Linden