Does not including my acreage void my lease?

Gas company drilled 3 yrs. ago. now they have drilled a allocation well. got to checking and they had shorted us 4 1/2 acres. does that void my lease?

I would first ask them why they did not include the additional 4.5 acres, however more than likely their spacing location did not include the tract that your additional 4.5 acres are on.

sorry let me give more details. On the lease the tract is 127 69.5 is what we slit. Then the division order calls it 58. and has been for 3 years. Got division orders for allocation well in March of last year. Hired an attorney and had him check into it. They couldn’t furnish us with a survey. They had have some one do it. Now they say yes they were wrong it is 64.5. Now don’t believe anything they say.

You may get a better answer on the forum if you give the location by state, county and description by S-T-R or abstract. A river or stream moving can cause a change in acreage. Note that the lease almost always has the GROSS amount of acres listed on it that matches the patent at statehood. Your net acres will usually be less due to fractionation from wills, sales, etc. through the generations.

And no, it will not usually void your lease. These sorts of errors pop up all the time and just require fixing. All or part of your acreage may fall within a spacing for a well.

The wells are in Panola county tx. the Hansville shale. Our tracts are completely taken in by the unit. They were going off what the court house had 69.5 when my great grandfather had it. Where they got the first numbers of 58 acres to pay us without a survey is any bodies guess. my attorney asked for the survey and they had to do one to give one. Now it’s 4.5 acres more. They are redoing the original division orders from 3 yrs. ago to match the new survey. They are also rewriting the ones for the allocation wells. I was trying to add a amendment to my lease. They said no they couldn’t do it. Just wondering what kind of leverage i had if any. Thank you for your input. I’ve spent long hours studying this stuff. That’s how I found the shortage. But I have realized I’m gonna have to study more. Any help is much appreciated.

I doubt you will be able to amend your lease. Once they are signed, they are done.

Check the amount and the number of acres they used for your bonus payment. Was it calculated on just the 58 A. or the 64.5? That is 6.5 A not 4.5. A DO in Texas cannot change a lease term but, arguing otherwise can be expensive, so do not sign any new DOs until you have explored all alternatives.

If the bonus was on 58 A you could argue you were not paid for the 6.5A. However, if the bonus was on the larger 127+ tract and then, there was the split in the tract, your argument becomes weaker.

My bonus was for more acreage than they have been paying me for. My interest is only in 16a. that part was my G F 's. 16b is all my uncles. Got new numbers yesterday. they took 4 1/2 acres from B and gave them to A my tract. I now have three different calculated interest. I think I my need to have it surveyed myself. Thanks again for all ya’ll’s input.

This topic was automatically closed after 90 days. New replies are no longer allowed.