Hello,
I am a new member. My dad and I have about 500 acres in NE Weld County, Colorado. We own all the minerals in 160 acres and have a half interest in the rest. We are the surface owners and live on the farm (rangeland). Our 3 year lease expires in October. We have not been drilled on but drilling has occurred on the sections east and south of us and most recently west of us. We recently received a letter from a landman to renew the lease and we also received a request from another landman for a seismograph (@ 10.00/ac). I'm trying to figure out how to proceed. Can we be force pulled into a lease? Is it in our best interest to see if the leases will expire thereby gaining some leverage? Thank you for your thoughts.
Anthony:
Your best bet is to let the leases expire. Your bargaining power becomes much greater with leases that are expired and seeing that you have some considerable acreage, think you will get a better deal. Contact Gary Hutchinson on this forum as he resides in Colorado and knows the area very well. By all means, take your time and don't get in a hurry.
You don't have a choice but to wait and see if the Leases expire, unless you're talking about signing a "top lease" (a lease that is signed before the current Lease has expired). A top Lease might not be permissible or permissible only with Right of First Refusal to the original Lessor, depending upon the wording in the original Lease, so check that out if you are being asked to sign a top lease. Don't know about forced pooling in CO, Gary will know.
Thank you gentlemen for your replies.