I need help with a new oil and gas lease in Wetzel County, West Virginia.
The best thing to do is contact a good oil and gas attorney in WV. They do not have to be in the same county. The draft lease from an agent is not going to be in the mineral owner’s favor.
Do you have any to recommend?
I do not work in WV, so do not have any recommendations. Several may have been listed on the forum. You might use the Search button and “attorney” or look at the Directories tab above. If not luck, then go the the bar association and look up their specialties.
With a little more information it will be easier to point you in the right direction regarding what producer is most active in certain areas. What district is the interest located in? I am sure a few in here can point you in the direction of a good oil and gas attorney.
It is in Proctor District. Trying to figure out what all I need to have them include in the lease. I got them to raise the signing bonus to 500 and the royalty to 15 percent. They added no warranty of title and the indemnification clause. They said they can’t do an assignment clause because of the heirship breaking down the interest for the net mineral interest per owner. None of my family has signed, so what happens to the rest of the 32 acres? My paperwork only says 0.040039 net for me.
Each of you can probably sign independently on your own lease.
Are there other things I need to make sure are in the lease? Is there something I should specifically look out for? I’ve read about limited scope, gross proceeds lease, and looking for old wells and old leases. Are these things that need to be addressed in the lease as well? How do I find out who owns the land currently? Has Biden halted the new leases still? Who pays for the equipment use and water? What taxes do I pay? How do I find out if I’m getting the right pay per value?
Go to the WV oil and gas site. Hopefully, there is a manual for mineral owners. It does not matter who owns the land. The minerals are usually separate after this many generations. The operators pay for drilling the well. You will pay state taxes, severance taxes, federal taxes. Post production charges are the biggest hit to the mineral owners’ pockets. A good attorney can work on getting your best lease.
Can you recommend one please as we don’t live in WV?
I do not work that area. Use the search magnifying glass above and see if someone has recommended one.
I agree with your suggestion in most cases, but this route should consider the size of the interest. Most attorneys will charge you $300-500/hour, so if you have a small interest, it makes no sense to pursue an attorney.
On .04 NMA they are essentially giving you $12,500 per NMA just to get you to bother to sign. I’ve leased with both Antero and EQT. They’re pretty fair. You can’t afford to get a lawyer for that; just think of it as a win at the slot machine. I would ask for 20 percent of the gross, no pre- or post-production costs. They’ll give it to you because this is really meaningless to them. The paperwork and title searches will be way more costly to them. If you knew all the heirs, you could negotiate as a group, but that’s not likely. These heir leases are a real pain but extremely common there. Also, maybe specify that only the Marcellus shale formation. That way, if they drill a Utica well, you can get another $500 bonus. Good luck.
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