Has anyone recently dealt with Empire Oil Company and if so, how was your experience.
I signed and submitted to Empire the lease papers on land in Burke County on 9 April, 2006. Their check arrived about 25 May, 2006. The lease was for $40.00 per net mineral acre, and a 15% royalty. They (apparently) sold the lease to Oasis Oil Co. who subsequently drilled on the property and "started" a producing well in May of 2006. I now receive my royalty checks from Oasis. All correspondence with Empire was by mail and I encountered no difficulties with them. Hope this helps.
Hal
Can you please provide details on what you are negotiating with them? I too am dealing with Empire.
I signed a lease with them 5 years ago and a top end lease on the same property (MR's) last August. I received my drafts on time and cashed them on time with no problems. 5 years ago they were secretive about who they leased them to, however about a year later they were alot more friendly and told me the lease was originally sold to Ansbro and then to Anschutz. They made it clear the top lease was for Anschutz and it was to my advantage to sign with them as Anschutz had all the areas around mine and it would be difficult to lease to any other company. Whether that would have been true or not I don't know.
Word has it Anschutz will be selling to another company which hasn't been openly disclosed to the public yet but should change within 2-3 months. We'll see about that too.
Keep in mind Empire is fairly high pressure and not really looking out for your best interest as they are committed to the company they are leasing to. You'll have to do some homework. I'm not sure how much information they will actually tell you as they have never really had any answers to my questions beyond leasing.
Do they seem a bit flakey or are you having a problem with Empire?
I am not having any problems with them but not sure I am getting the best signing bonus for my research in that area. The section adjacent to mine went for 360 in November and I am being offered significantly less. Are yours surface rights or mineral rights?
We are currently leased to Empire on the second time around. They first leased from us in 2004 and then again in 2008 with a lease that expires in 2012. I had no trouble with bonus payments as they were right on time. I will probably stick with them (under alot more $/mineral acre and a higher royalty) if they will deal. I have learned alot since 2008 about lease wording now I can shop around for a better deal.
Sharon Rainey said:
I signed a lease with them 5 years ago and a top end lease on the same property (MR's) last August. I received my drafts on time and cashed them on time with no problems. 5 years ago they were secretive about who they leased them to, however about a year later they were alot more friendly and told me the lease was originally sold to Ansbro and then to Anschutz. They made it clear the top lease was for Anschutz and it was to my advantage to sign with them as Anschutz had all the areas around mine and it would be difficult to lease to any other company. Whether that would have been true or not I don't know.
Word has it Anschutz will be selling to another company which hasn't been openly disclosed to the public yet but should change within 2-3 months. We'll see about that too.
Keep in mind Empire is fairly high pressure and not really looking out for your best interest as they are committed to the company they are leasing to. You'll have to do some homework. I'm not sure how much information they will actually tell you as they have never really had any answers to my questions beyond leasing.
Do they seem a bit flakey or are you having a problem with Empire?
Gerald said:
Can you please provide details on what you are negotiating with them? I too am dealing with Empire.
Gerald:
Please refer to my response to this topic.
Gerald said:
Can you please provide details on what you are negotiating with them? I too am dealing with Empire.
Can you share what lessons you have learned? Lease wording etc…
charles s mallory said:
Gerald:
Please refer to my response to this topic.
Gerald said:Can you please provide details on what you are negotiating with them? I too am dealing with Empire.
Gerald:
Besides the obvious lease contents (subject, land description, royalty interest, length of lease, etc.), I want to watch out for the wording of how the royalties will be calculated (from the wellhead, etc. --Mr. Cotten addressed this in one of his discussions on this forum),and an addition of "pugh clauses" whereas the lessor cannot tie up zones below the production zone. My thinking is not to sign a lease longer than three years and shop around for the best % royalty instead of being hasty on the first offer. You can always ask more and find out what their ceiling actually is. I would prefer to lease directly to an operator other than a lease broker if possible.
Gerald said:
Can you share what lessons you have learned? Lease wording etc...
charles s mallory said:Gerald:
Please refer to my response to this topic.
Gerald said:Can you please provide details on what you are negotiating with them? I too am dealing with Empire.
Thanks Charles for all your info.
charles s mallory said:
Gerald:
Besides the obvious lease contents (subject, land description, royalty interest, length of lease, etc.), I want to watch out for the wording of how the royalties will be calculated (from the wellhead, etc. --Mr. Cotten addressed this in one of his discussions on this forum),and an addition of "pugh clauses" whereas the lessor cannot tie up zones below the production zone. My thinking is not to sign a lease longer than three years and shop around for the best % royalty instead of being hasty on the first offer. You can always ask more and find out what their ceiling actually is. I would prefer to lease directly to an operator other than a lease broker if possible.
Gerald said:Can you share what lessons you have learned? Lease wording etc...
charles s mallory said:Gerald:
Please refer to my response to this topic.
Gerald said:Can you please provide details on what you are negotiating with them? I too am dealing with Empire.
Good luck if Anschutz has anything to do with your mineral. They will not answer questions or return phone calls from me or their leasing agent in ND. My lease with Anschutz was expiring and I called to see if they were thinking on leasing my mineral again, I called a dozen times over a few months period, no one would give me the time of day or return messages. I spoke with their leasing agent who the lease was originally signed with and they said they will not talk with them either or return their phone calls. I have dealt with large and small companies, Anschutz suck. I can only imagine what it would be like if they were the operator of your well, No way I’d ever sign with them.
Mineral Joe:
Was your minerals located in Williams County? I will be sure to stay away from Anschutz!
Mineral Joe said:
Good luck if Anschutz has anything to do with your mineral. They will not answer questions or return phone calls from me or their leasing agent in ND. My lease with Anschutz was expiring and I called to see if they were thinking on leasing my mineral again, I called a dozen times over a few months period, no one would give me the time of day or return messages. I spoke with their leasing agent who the lease was originally signed with and they said they will not talk with them either or return their phone calls. I have dealt with large and small companies, Anschutz suck. I can only imagine what it would be like if they were the operator of your well, No way I'd ever sign with them.
No, my minerals are in Dunn 141N-96W. Anschutz has a fair size lease hold around there. The lease brokerage firm in ND they used are pretty decent crowd but after a well is drilled then you have to deal with Anschutz. I was as nice as could be and tried just about every employee in the entire office. The receptionist was the only person to answer and continually sent me to a different person to no avail, only got recordings and they’d never return calls when I simply said they held the lease to some minerals I own and needed to speak with someone about my lease expiring. Even secretaries for various people in land department wouldn’t answer or return calls. The brokerage firm said they do them the same way and so it leaves them to deal with matters and make decisions on their own.
Mineral Joe:
Thanks for sharing this information on Anschutz. I have no use for a company that will not respond to my questions. I have only had dealings with a few lease brokers and I always have luck getting questions answered.
Does anyone know how ND acquires mineral acreage for their quarterly sale? I own a percentage of a section that I see was sold in November. Just wondering how they acquire mineral acres.
Gerald:
I am not exactly sure the answer to your question but I think you should start another post as it would be more highly visible to the forum readers. Good luck on finding your answer.
Gerald said:
Does anyone know how ND acquires mineral acreage for their quarterly sale? I own a percentage of a section that I see was sold in November. Just wondering how they acquire mineral acres.
Gerald,
If I understood your question correctly... North Dakota doesn't "acquire" minerals for their quarterly sale. The state is leasing some of the minerals it already owns. So you can't place your minerals in their next sale.
If I were you I would check who leased the state minerals in your section, and what was the bonus amount they paid. Both of those items are available online on the ND website. Then contact that company and see if they want to pick up your acres as well. Chances are they won't offer as much as the state received, but they'll likely be interested in leasing yours.
As to the subject of this thread. I leased some with Empire a few years back and they were fine to work with. As to Anschutz, a privately held company, I believe they've sold their interests to Occidental Petroleum (OXY on the stock exchange) though I'm not sure if that is confirmed yet.
Gerald said:
Does anyone know how ND acquires mineral acreage for their quarterly sale? I own a percentage of a section that I see was sold in November. Just wondering how they acquire mineral acres.
I have been told that the state always kept 1/2 of the rights when the property was first deeded to the homesteader.
Gerald said:
Does anyone know how ND acquires mineral acreage for their quarterly sale? I own a percentage of a section that I see was sold in November. Just wondering how they acquire mineral acres.