I just starting getting involved with educating myself and organizing my family's minerals deeds, royalty/working/overriding interests in multiple counties in multiple states. Most are located in Oklahoma. I'm getting a grasp on most topics but I'm still trying to understand mineral acreage within a section and how it correlates with potential royalty interest.
Example, let's say I own 5 mineral acres in an Oklahoma county, legal description is N/2 NW/4 NW/4 of section "X". If a well is drilled on that section would I participate ONLY if the wellbore enters that focused 20 acres of the legal description or would I participate in receiving dividends if the wellbore enters into ANY portion of section "X"? If so, would I just own the 5 mineral acres in the legal description of the section and not 5 acres of the entire 640 acre section (5/640 = 0.78125%)?
Also, what is the difference between a "block" vs "lot" vs "tract" in relation to a section?
I am not an attorney, so my suggestions are learned the hard way :). If you envision a section as a square mile, which most are, there are 640 acres in it. Then divide the square into four quadrants. Upper left corner is NorthWest 1/4 or NW/4 and it would contain 160 acres. The portion north of the east west dividing line would be N/2, and below, S/2. Then, divide the 4 squares into 4 squares, and the same logic applies. You can google this and I suggest you do to see the depiction.
If you own 5 acres in a section, and it is not "undivided," it means you own 5 acres. Most states require 40 acres to drill a vertical well, so you would need to be "pooled" with other landowners to get the other minimum 35 acres needed. Horizontal wells are a bit different, but in the standard vertical well, if the operator drills a well within the 40-acre pool in which your 5 acres are, you would receive 5/40 X royalty interest as your revenue share. If you are not in the pool, and your 5 acres are not undivided in the deed, you would get nothing. If your 5 were undivided in the full section, you would benefit from any drilling in the section by using your 5 acres proportionately to the pool used by the operator.
block is a defined area that included a number of sections, and within the block, there will be townships (i believe about 9 sections square), and within the townships, some land is divided into township lots, which could be any number of acres or percent thereof. in my experience, a tract is simply a portion of land that can include any number of acres.