I subscribed to the Wilson County Citizen a while back but they’ve never mentioned any mineral deeds so far. It’s possible they are just excluding to include those in the news. I have seen numerous permits for wells around the outskirts of Fredonia taken out by the same company mentioned previously. The unleased royalty rate isn’t too bad up there. Make sure you watch all of the KCC notice of hearings because a whole bunch of people in Fort Worth got ripped when they post notices in an official newspaper that 99% of people have never even heard of so no one found out until it was too late.
Thanks for the reply Kitchen. So on these hearings, is it an easy thing to just go and say you don't want the setback or can it end up being an ugly fight that could require an attorney or at least persistent protests?
Honestly I’ve never been to one so hopefully someone on here with more experience can give more detail. Typically you would see an intent to drill that is near your property and if they excluded you from the pool and it is pretty close to your house you may want to file a protest or show up to the hearing. The spacing rules are different all over the country so it might be worth finding out what the typical spacing rules are in Wilson County for oil. If they propose to be closer than the standard spacing that’s when you need to get involved. If it happened to me, I would try to get other property owners who did not sell their rights who may be impacted by the lack of spacing and get everyone to file a notice of protest and or attend the meeting. I have always felt there is power in numbers. The homeowners here were all from one neighborhood and I think they were all holding out to get the maximum lease offer possible. The gas company refused to give higher offers so they filed a certain legal waiver to basically drill right around the neighborhood and not lease the owners even though they encroached beyond the limits of spacing for the area. The notice was posted in the “official” newspaper in Fort Worth, which is a very small unknown paper most people have never heard of that goes mostly to lawyers and investors / speculators in real estate. So no one from the neighborhood knew there was a hearing until after it was over and the railroad commission granted the waiver and allowed the drilling right next to the neighborhood without having to pay the owners even though its quite possible their gas is being drained away.
I have seen in my neighborhood here the people who protested the notices often withdrew their requests before the meetings. I believe this is because the gas company made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. In Fredonia it sounds like this company doesn’t want to lease anyone so they might be willing to take a chance and let it go to hearings even if someone files a protest.
Here is a link to the Kansas Involuntary Pooling statute. This statute is relatively straightforward compared to some other states. Read over it and ask the board if you have any questions.
In general, the statute says if you don't lease and you are pooled in a unit you will get a 1/8th royalty on your share of the unit production. You will not be charged a penalty.
Interestingly, that sounds nothing like what I've seen in this thread. Perhaps I'm reading the statute incorrectly. I'll let the others on the board read it and decide for themselves.
Andrew, thank you for the Pooling statute. My previous post was in regards to property owners who were not force pooled, but rather the pool line was drawn all the way up to their residential lots without the standard spacing normally required between pools, and how the state allowed it without the property owners knowledge. In essence, the pool was created 20 feet from your house and you were excluded from having to be paid because the state granted a waiver to the lessee who formed the pool. Normally, spacing rules prohibit that kind of situation, in order to prevent someone from draining your minerals out from under you by drilling too close without compensating you. It's just someone to be aware of. And every state has different rules.