Wife has inherited an interest in half-section in Harding County, NM. We're located in KS and knowledge of royalties and water rights law that have is based on KS and on conditions of leases and royalties on land/producing wells (gas, no oil) here.
Are very close to OK and TX panhandles and altho there are large landholders in the area, it appears that none have sufficient holdings in NM that any local attorneys are up on NM law so I'm sorta' struggling to get up to speed on NM. The one thing I do know is that one needs to know what the ground rules are for where the ground is--every conversation of any att'y in KS begins w/ "this is KS, not OK or TX" and I suspect that's true everywhere.
So, anyway, a couple of specifics and then anybody that can chime in on how to get an overview of NM in a hurry feel free...
This ground has been in the family since early 1900's--quite early for Harding County and I've have never seen one lick of activity in the County in the times we have gone down there. It was, therefore, a shock to receive a lease from a landman working for an outfit called KHL, Inc. In the minimal discussions I've had w/ him, it turns out they're looking to produce CO2 for transportation to Permian Basin for EOR.
This leads to lots of questions I've no knowledge of--what's the actual value of the CO2, is there any actual activity going on in the area of Harding County, why is this happening now, who is KHL and are they of any repute, are there any others poking around down there, too?
The offered lease is for $40/A and 1/8th for 5-yr w/ an option for 5-yr at $65.
The more general queries have to do w/what does NM law say about things such as any fresh water discovered, produced water and disposal thereof, etc., etc., etc., ...
I searched NM state sites and had no success whatsoever in finding any summary kinds of information other than the Code itself which is, in general, heavy lifting as an introduction.
Any input appreciated including if anybody knows of good attorneys in NE NM (there are _no_ attorneys of any stripe in Harding County as we discovered in doing the probate work). The fella' w/ whom we dealt in Clayton got it done but aren't terribly comfortable w/ him so am reluctant to carry on w/o at least looking around some.