Heirs to Mineral Rights in Doddridge - West Union District

West Virginia Mineral Rights Doddridge County, WV
1

Hello everyone, first I'd like to say that this forum has been a blessing to me over the last few weeks! A great big THANK YOU to everyone for your information and your sharing!! I apologize for this very long post, there's a lot to share.

About 3 weeks ago, my 3 siblings and I, all California residents, were contacted by a researcher from Antero Resources regarding possible heirship of mineral rights in Doddridge County - West Union District. We learned that our Great-Great Grandfather acquired (mineral rights, maybe other rights?) sometime in the 1800's. My grandmother and her cousin signed a lease in 1960, and according to the researcher, it was still valid. She was attempting to track who the current heirs were for our portion (it ended up being us, as we had death certificates and other information). This came as a total surprise to all of us, and at the time we were notified, we all knew less than nothing about mineral rights.

Since I had the time, I took on the task of doing the reading and research to share with everyone, so that we would all be informed. We are all together in this (no rogues wanting to run, sign, etc).

Since then we have all signed and notarized Affidavits of Heirship documents and returned them to Antero. The researcher then gave me the name of someone named Matt from Clearwater Land Services; this landman would be our contact from that point on. We had a lot of questions, so I sent Matt an email with them. Rather than email me, he called me back. He said he would be mailing out lease revision documentation which will be a pooling modification to the original lease signed in 1960. This revision will be asking permission to drill between 1 and 12 wells in a very large area that includes ours. He's mailed them since then ... my siblings got theirs, I should get mine tomorrow.

Here is the info I have gathered so far, along with what we believe we need to do next:

The landman told me that we own 1/6 mineral rights in 47.8 acres (last figure, the number keeps changing). He said the 4 of us each would receive royalties from 4 net acres.

We have no idea who owns the mineral rights on the other 5/6. According to ancestry.com my great-grandfather had 6 siblings, 1 deceased rather young, perhaps each sibling owned a share.

We have no idea who owns the surface rights. Nor do we know who has been paying the taxes all of these years. We don't know if there is anyone speaking for us.

Obviously we have not been receiving any royalties over the last several decades, nor do we know if anyone else is. I do know that my grandmother and my mother weren't getting anything.

I have reference tax map numbers, and was able to track down a Royalty person at CNX Gas. She told me that two wells were drilled in the 90's. I have the well API #'s. She was able to tell me that the royalty recipients were listed as "unknown." She was going to research this and get back to me last week (haven't heard back yet). Have no idea if these wells are active, although the researcher told me that our property had "active wells."

While tracking down the current lessor I learned that the 1960 lease was passed on through the years to different gas companies.

We have no idea of the current lease contents.

Through the OOG map, I was able to learn that there is an abandoned well assigned to my heirs (Kinney Heirs) (permit in 1960), about the time the lease was signed.

The landman gave me a verbal general idea of possible royalties ... an estimate of $1,000 to $2,000 per month for each of us based on our 4 net acres, could be less, could be more. He said the company doesn't like them to do this, so "don't quote me." I'm not giving that part of the conversation a whole lot of weight at this point.

He gave me an estimate of 18 months from now to receipt of first royalties. He said we would get a Division Order about 9 months before we get our first check.

We can see the wisdom of having an attorney review the lease document; however, I'd like to keep costs down by doing as much of the research as I can. What I think we need to acquire now is any deed information, tax information, a copy of the 1960 lease, learn who owns the rights to the other 5/6, status of existing wells, and any prior royalty info.

I will welcome any advice and assistance, along with questions! From this forum I've learned what we need to have in the lease (certain clauses). Once I have the lease I will share what is in it. Thank you!

2

Hi Robin, I might be able to help a little.

First, since you have API numbers, there are 2 things that might give some information.

Call the Doddridge County Assessor's office and ask for someone who works with oil and gas interests. Tell that person that you found out that you own interest in those wells with those API numbers. I think they have some way of connecting property with well numbers. See where that conversation goes. You will get on the tax records somehow for county property tax and this is the department, so maybe they have some info on who has been getting paid for these wells and therefore who pays tax. Maybe they can share.

The next is the WV state tax dept. Here is the link http://www.state.wv.us/taxrev/publications/propertyTax/specialPropertiesSection.pdf Look down the page for the Producing and Reserve Oil / Natural Gas section. This is the department that the companies report their production revenue to, and to whom they paid royalties. This Dept. is only allowed to give you information about your wells and your portion, but perhaps there is something they can help with.

Sounds like CNX is the current leaseholder. Someone in the Land Department, probably the woman you talked with, can get the information about the lease citation (lease book number and page numbers) from the Doddridge County record office. If you are lucky you might get sent a copy of the lease. Otherwise you can contact the Doddridge County Clerk's office and order a copy of the lease. You might need the total page numbers, which the CNX person can tell you. I don't know about Doddridge County Clerk, but the next county to the west, Ritchie, is one I have dealt with a lot. If you send a check they will send the documents. $1.00 a page.

About your great grandfather and 6 siblings, one died young, it sounds like the 6 who became adults including your greatgrandfather, shared 1/6 each of the great-great grandfather's estate.

While you are asking the CNX Land Dept. person about the lease, see if they can share any title opinion etc that they have, particularly with the original deed book number and pages. Doddridge doesn't have anything online that I know of; you would have to go there yourself or hire somebody there to look up the deed. If you have a tax map and parcel number, you might be able to get the name and address of the surface owner from the Assessor's office.

I have a subscription to a service where I can look up tax information (owners, addresses, etc) but the latest is 2012. I looked quickly for the 47.8 and found 1 listing for interest oil and gas with that acreage and lists map 19 parcel 26. Right fork of Arnold's Creek. If this sounds right, and you want the name, I can give you that.

It is a good idea to ask for some compensation for signing a lease modification. If you look around this discussion group there have been several attorneys recommended by members of the Doddridge County group. You can see that I have used Kyle Nuttall who is a member of this group. Others have listed other names.

Hope this helps.

3

Hi Nancy,

Thanks for such a quick reply! On the current lease I have the date recorded, the book number and page number. First, I'm going to try to get a copy of it from CNX. If not I will contact the County Clerk.

I don't have the map 19 parcel 26, right fork of Arnold's Creek info. Would you mind giving me the name anyway?

I don't have my copy of the Antero lease modification yet, but my sister mentioned a $1 per acre compensation. According to forum comments, that doesn't sound too good. but then I've read that the royalty % and lease clauses are very important. Thanks again!

4

Name is Sylvanus Perine and his wife. Of course this could be completely a different property.

I think you said you have a tax map and parcel number. If you could tell me that I could look that way. It would only give the surface owner unless that person also owns some royalty.
If you prefer doing this off the site you can "friend" me and we can continue that way.

Your lease probably calls for 1/8 royalty which was standard until recently. You could ask for more as part of the lease modification negotiation but they probably won't give you any.

$1 is quite low and you should ask for more. This is where an attorney working in this area would know what is reasonable to ask for in modifications. It is quite a bit more for a new lease.

Just make sure that they don't try to take out post production costs.

5

DT you are right about being sure about something before you sign about it. And also right about the companies sending out landmen with not enough information sometimes. Always best to find out as much as you can on your own as well as letting them tell you things.

6

I spent several days reading the material on this forum, and I've read every single comment that's been posted so far. This morning I received a copy of the lease from CNX that was signed in 1960. The quality is lousy; although I can read most of it, I may need to contact the courthouse to get a better copy. Also have some info now on surface land owners and mineral rights owners. If I have anything to give to others that find this forum it's that there are no shortcuts. You have to spend the time to read, research and investigate, and plan on getting legal assistance at some point to protect your interests. This is our plan and what my reading here has told me.

I appreciate all of your comments!

7

I received my lease modifications last Saturday. There are two of them, because apparently there were two leases signed in 1960. One of the leases lists everyone that owns mineral rights for the 97 acres, but is only signed by my grandmother's cousin. She is listed at the top of the lease as attorney-in-fact. So she must have been designated as the legal authority for everyone. The other lease, which is dated about a month later, is signed by my grandmother and her cousin. The content of these print copies of the leases is illegible; they are copies of microfiche. I emailed the landman from Clearwater Land Services, asking him to email me his copies of the leases. I can zoom in the type size with my software application and I'm hoping then they will be readable. If not, I will try to get copies from the courthouse. Need to know what's in the leases, one would think??? I was able to read with a magnifying glass that the terms included "rental at the rate of $1 an acre ($97 for all 97 acres) quarterly in advance, until, but not after, a well yielding royalty to the lessors in royalty due upon the same and all rentals shall cease after the surrender of this lease as hereinafter provided for. All payments for delay for gas produced and marketed, for gasoline and other by-products may be made direct to the lessors or to be deposited to their credit, or to the credit of their heirs or assigns." There is another paragraph that I cannot read that has to do with lessee privileges. Nothing about royalty percentages.

The modifications are only a bit over a page long and they ask for pooling rights. A lot of legal language relating to pooling, nothing else. This, along with the offer of $1 for my signature.

I have names and addresses for who owned mineral rights in 2012, and through ancestry.com I've been able to determine that they are my descendants. I plan on writing them this week soliciting some input (along with some genealogy). But my siblings and I are united in that we have to retain an attorney in WV to review all of this on our behalf. It appears as if we might need to include much more in the lease modification. One thing for sure: until we have legible copies of the 1960 leases, nothing is happening.

8

There's been a lot in this forum re: treatment by landmen representing Antero. So I wanted to comment re: my experience at this point. The Antero researcher sent me the landman's contact info, and I emailed him with questions. He never emailed me back, but called me a few weeks later. That was when he tossed around some general numbers and timelines with the disclaimer "don't quote me." But he was very friendly and said "call me anytime."

My siblings received their lease modifications right away, but I did not. So I emailed him, asking why I hadn't received mine. He emailed me right back (and I mean, within 5 minutes) saying "thank you for letting me know, I will look into it" and then early the next day, he emailed me again, saying that they made a mistake in the address and would be remailing me the documents.

Three days later, I got them via priority mail. There was no cover letter with the documents, just boilerplate-looking forms with big yellow "sign and notarize here" stickers and the illegible lease copies.

Since then, I've emailed him a few times, and he never responds to my emails. So my impression is that he isn't much into information exchange via email, unless it pertains to the interest of his client. I think they want us to brush the black and gold glitter out of our eyes, sign, and rush to the post office. I'm not impressed. But he hasn't been rude ... yet.

I will see if he gets back to me re: a legible copy of the leases. Anyway, this is my feedback so far. I will comment again with updates.

9

Good that you have at least a crummy copy. Agreed that you need a good copy to see what is there.

I think that is standard language of the day about the rental until a well is producing. Most modern leases are paid up leases (they use that term) and the bonus money is the paid up rental for the primary term (often 5 years).

Anyway I bet it is 1/8 of the gas and oil, since that was the standard until very recently.

When you get a legible copy, see what delay rental is; you probably don't need to know but it should be there.

That is great that you have information about your relatives who are current fellow lessors. They might be helpful. You said you have API numbers. Have you looked those up in the office of oil and gas website to see about the production?

https://apps.dep.wv.gov/oog/wellsearch_new.cfm put in your county and the API number. Should start with 017- for Doddridge.

Here is a link to the WV Geological and Economic Survey pipeline

http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/oginfo/pipeline/pipeline2.asp

which is similar to the WV Office of Oil and Gas (the first one) but is more of a historic picture. Operator name is the original one, whereas in the Office of Oil and Gas the operator is the current one. The WVGES often goes back a little further. Since you have a 1960 lease, you want to know as far as possible.

Have fun.

10

Pooling sounds like such a small and simple thing but it is not. The $1 that they are offering for your IRREVOCABLE consent to pooling any way they feel like, may not be in your best interest. They have to offer you the $1 to make it something that you could not back out of. Possibly they could pool 1/2 acre of your minerals and perpetuate the lease on all of your minerals. You may want a clause that a certain number of your acres must be in the pool or no pooling is granted. I believe they need to pay more to offset for getting competent legal advice. A higher one time payment or greater royalty may also be negotiated.

Is it any wonder why they don't explain anything other than they want your agreement? Sign here.

I personally believe that pooling should be on a case by case basis, if it's truly in your best interest, should they not be able to explain why?

If it's not in your best interest, should you not be able to say no? Or at least be compensated better for agreeing to something that is against your best interest?

11

RW, I read a document "Checklist for Negotiating an Oil and Gas Lease" in which they covered pooling. A lot of what's there is mentioned in your comment. So yes, this is a concern of ours.

12


Hi Nancy,

I was able to locate the wells using the info that you provided. As a newbie, I can't tell if the yield is good or not. They are both still active, and probably horizontal. The surface owners are my descendants, so it was good to get another confirmation of that. Do you know of a resource that could help me interpret the figures?


Nancy Mosley said:

Good that you have at least a crummy copy. Agreed that you need a good copy to see what is there.

I think that is standard language of the day about the rental until a well is producing. Most modern leases are paid up leases (they use that term) and the bonus money is the paid up rental for the primary term (often 5 years).

Anyway I bet it is 1/8 of the gas and oil, since that was the standard until very recently.

When you get a legible copy, see what delay rental is; you probably don't need to know but it should be there.

That is great that you have information about your relatives who are current fellow lessors. They might be helpful. You said you have API numbers. Have you looked those up in the office of oil and gas website to see about the production?

https://apps.dep.wv.gov/oog/wellsearch_new.cfm put in your county and the API number. Should start with 017- for Doddridge.

Here is a link to the WV Geological and Economic Survey pipeline

http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/oginfo/pipeline/pipeline2.asp

which is similar to the WV Office of Oil and Gas (the first one) but is more of a historic picture. Operator name is the original one, whereas in the Office of Oil and Gas the operator is the current one. The WVGES often goes back a little further. Since you have a 1960 lease, you want to know as far as possible.

Have fun.

13

No resource that I know of. If these are old like from the 1980s or earlier, 500 mcf a month is good. Even that doesn't provide a lot of royalty at 12.5%, and divided by however many royalty owners. Sometimes they have more than one well on a meter, and so two different wells will have the same production numbers.

Newly drilled good horizontal wells produce quite a lot more than that.

Not much help there. Maybe somebody else know a place to look.

14

I did a quick calculation for the well that started production in 1993. It produced a little less than 150,000 mfc during a 20-year period. In 2013, it was still averaging 600 mfc per month. The analyst at CNX is looking for the heir to the other person that signed the 1960 lease with my grandmother. She told me that the royalties recipients were listed as "unknown.' Hard to believe when my descendants are listed as the surface owners, and they surely were listed as mineral rights owners for their 1/6 of the property. They are probably paying the taxes.

The link to WVGES was fascinating! I was able to see exactly where the wells were located, and also where the region is within the district. Lots of wells in that area, it seems. Thanks for sharing those links with me.

15


I received an email from the Independent Landman that is representing Antero. He said that he will go to the courthouse and get better copies of those 1960 leases for me. He didn't ask me if we had any questions, or if we'd mailed back the signed lease modifications. So far, friendly and helpful. So my impression is more favorable (but our strategy has not changed).


Robin said:

There's been a lot in this forum re: treatment by landmen representing Antero. So I wanted to comment re: my experience at this point. The Antero researcher sent me the landman's contact info, and I emailed him with questions. He never emailed me back, but called me a few weeks later. That was when he tossed around some general numbers and timelines with the disclaimer "don't quote me." But he was very friendly and said "call me anytime."

My siblings received their lease modifications right away, but I did not. So I emailed him, asking why I hadn't received mine. He emailed me right back (and I mean, within 5 minutes) saying "thank you for letting me know, I will look into it" and then early the next day, he emailed me again, saying that they made a mistake in the address and would be remailing me the documents.

Three days later, I got them via priority mail. There was no cover letter with the documents, just boilerplate-looking forms with big yellow "sign and notarize here" stickers and the illegible lease copies.

Since then, I've emailed him a few times, and he never responds to my emails. So my impression is that he isn't much into information exchange via email, unless it pertains to the interest of his client. I think they want us to brush the black and gold glitter out of our eyes, sign, and rush to the post office. I'm not impressed. But he hasn't been rude ... yet.

I will see if he gets back to me re: a legible copy of the leases. Anyway, this is my feedback so far. I will comment again with updates.

16

You're welcome. So much to learn. I am still learning.

Glad you are going to get better copies of the lease.

Glad the landman is being helpful. But as they say, remember he works for the company.

17

The royalty in the lease is 1/8 of gas and oil. Also, there a delay rental of $97 a quarter ($1 per acre) until "a well yielding royalty to the lessors is drilled on the leased premises..."

Nancy Mosley said:

Good that you have at least a crummy copy. Agreed that you need a good copy to see what is there.

I think that is standard language of the day about the rental until a well is producing. Most modern leases are paid up leases (they use that term) and the bonus money is the paid up rental for the primary term (often 5 years).

Anyway I bet it is 1/8 of the gas and oil, since that was the standard until very recently.

When you get a legible copy, see what delay rental is; you probably don't need to know but it should be there.

That is great that you have information about your relatives who are current fellow lessors. They might be helpful. You said you have API numbers. Have you looked those up in the office of oil and gas website to see about the production?

https://apps.dep.wv.gov/oog/wellsearch_new.cfm put in your county and the API number. Should start with 017- for Doddridge.

Here is a link to the WV Geological and Economic Survey pipeline

http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/oginfo/pipeline/pipeline2.asp

which is similar to the WV Office of Oil and Gas (the first one) but is more of a historic picture. Operator name is the original one, whereas in the Office of Oil and Gas the operator is the current one. The WVGES often goes back a little further. Since you have a 1960 lease, you want to know as far as possible.

Have fun.

18

I think that delay rental is the "old way" of doing leases where they paid a certain amount up front and if they didn't drill a well within 6 months (or a shorter or longer time) there was a set amount of "delay rental" to be paid on some regular basis, usually quarterly, until a well was drilled or until the term (whatever was specified) was up. Then they renewed the lease or not.

Nowadays it is usually a "paid up lease" and all the "delay rental" money is lumped together for the full term and paid as up front bonus money.

Keep reading the lease and see what else you find.

19

The old delay rental was I think preferable to the paid up oil and gas lease. Oil companies have gotten lazy, they have a hard time doing anything on time, like making a delay payment, which should make the lease expire for lack of the delay payment. Oil companies like the paid up lease because for a certain period of time, it's vortually impossible for them to lose the lease because the delay rental was paid in advance.

There is a member of mineral rights forum who recently posted about a company making the lease option extension payment late. The mineral owner has returned the late check for the too late exercise of the option three times, the former lessee keeps sending the check back praying that the mineral owner will cash the check. I hope the mineral owner fully documented when they received the too late check and has a lawyer on standby.

20

We just got a different lease from Antero (new landman) and it has that clause. This is from Feb 2014. The other was sent to us in 2013 in the fall, don't remember when that version was written.

I need to read it over but already see some changes. This is Ritchie, so I am the wrong county forum, but that Gross Proceeds has a trap in it for sure. Thanks for the warning!

Nancy