I was contacted today by someone from MJ Oil, LLC from Gillette WY. I have searched BBB, Chamber of Commerce of Gillette, google, mapquest, and can't find anything about them at all. The sent me an offer and lease for my minerals in Mountrail County, ND. Makes me very leary that I can't find anything about them at all. Any help would be appreciated.
thelmarule
Check the BLM LR2000 and do a search on the company to see if they have ever done any business with the BLM in the past. You could also call the Wyoming BLM and Wyoming State Lands & Investments to see if anyone has ever heard of them. They are pretty free to tell you if they did.
Have you had the lease looked over by an attorney? They will be able to tell you if it is a legit document or not.
Best of luck.
Thelmarule, these LLc pop up like weeds. I was investigating a lessee that used 3 different LLc as holding companies. If they are making a good offer you can deal with them, but take precautions. Deal with them in writing. Unless you are recording you have no record of what was said in phone negotiations. Get competent help to look over and modify, delete and add to the lease for your protection. Lastly, make sure you are paid. Get a check and make sure it clears before you hand over an executed lease. LLc stands for limited liability corporation, and that means exactly what it says. You can sue them but it probably isn't worth it because all you may find is a stack of unpaid bills. MJ Oil may even be a legal fiction set up by the operator trying so hard to scare you into signing a lease. I do believe that I have seen the name in one of my searches through the recorders network, but I won't swear to it. If they made you a better offer and you were inclined to take it, I don't see a reason why you shouldn't, provided you take precautions to protect yourself and be sure to get paid. You could solicit a competitive offer from those that were pressuring you to sign a lease before. They may rethink what they are willing to pay for your lease if they know they can lose your acres to someone else. Thelmarule, neither one of the companies that I know of making you offers would inspire me with confidence, but that is the way of oil business these days. Protect yourself no matter who you are dealing with. I think you would have yet more offers if you could get the word out that your lease would be open. You could list your minerals on the home page of this site if you look at the bottom. There is a Topix forum that I sometimes frequent and I know that landmen watch there, especially one named Garret who works for Sundance. I believe that Wes Luke recommended a Tim Greenheck (not quite sure of the spelling) who works for Copperhead. I know it isn't enjoyable generating offers but maybe if you thought of it as working for hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars per hour to get as many offers as you can, which it could be, it might make it more exciting. I'd start by listing my minerals on the home page of this site at the bottom.
Thermarule,
If you have good title documents or can get them, and significant acreage, set terms you are happy with and approach legitimate operators in Montrail County.
Thank you,
What is the best way to contact people? I found some of the people I think are working in our area and got a couple of names from our attorney. I did list them on this site also.
Thanks again,
Gary L. Hutchinson said:
Thermarule,
If you have good title documents or can get them, and significant acreage, set terms you are happy with and approach legitimate operators in Montrail County.
Gary L Hutchinson
Minerals Management
Gary,
I have all the title work done. I had to probate both my parents wills and have clear title for 77.59 acres at 157-91-6 my cousins split the other 77.59. The total that we have is 155.18 acres in minerals rights only. Is it a bad sign that the operator first said they wanted to lease then backed out saying it wasn't enough acreage and wanted to concentrate on bigger producing areas. We have been in contact with 8 companies and calling one more today. I don't know just how much information to give out over this discussion. Thanks
Gary L. Hutchinson said:
Thermarule,
If you have good title documents or can get them, and significant acreage, set terms you are happy with and approach legitimate operators in Montrail County.
Gary L Hutchinson
Minerals Management
Dear T,
Good work on the title. You will be happy you did the work in the future. You don't personally control enough acreage to attract a big operator through a cold call and get their attention unless your land is close to new drilling. it is critical to know who to contact and what information they will be interested in such as your recent title work. You are approaching an area where mineral owners' attorneys recommend my involvement. Although your acreage is below my management minimum, I will be happy to give you some suggestions at no charge since you have done the title work. Just send me a "Friend" request and I will respond with some direct contact information.
We did a lease with MJ Oil in November and they were very helpful to us, able to get us better terms than the operator's landman. We had no problems.
Thanks for sharing Dorothy. I'm glad you got a good deal from them. I have had some conversations with them and so far have been very pleased.