Hi, I'm new to this site and have some questions. I own two 10 acres lots in Loving County located in Block 55 Section 48 (North Half, Lots 28 & 29) and don't know about the Oil / Gas drilling going on in that area. How do I get information about that. I would appreciate your help, thanks.
Regards, Pete
354-LocationLC.pdf (583 KB)Pete, as you may be aware, there is a producing oil well on your section. It is the Hueso Salto State 55-2-48 Lov #2H well, and it is operated by Shell.
This is an active area, and there is room to put many additional wells on your section. If I had to guess, you're probably receiving multiple offers per week to buy your minerals. Those offers will continue to increase, and if a drilling permit for a new well appears on your property, those offers will increase dramatically in frequency and size.
That's assuming that you own the mineral rights to these tracts and not just the surface.
Hi, how do I know if I have mineral rights? I purchased the property 12 years ago and don't know. Please help, thanks.
Hi, how do I know if I have mineral rights? I purchased the property 12 years ago and don't know. Please help, thanks.
Pete,
I'll check and see on if any reservation to oil, gas, and minerals was made. There's a good chance that whomever you purchased the property from and executed the warranty deed did not own the minerals either.
Let me do a quick search and see what I can find out.
Pete,
I pulled the Warranty Deed and there was no reservations of any oil, gas, or mineral rights made by the Grantor whom conveyed this property to you. In fact, they conveyed all right, title and interest in the lands to you as Grantee, so any oil, gas, and minerals that the Grantor may have owned would then be in your possession.
The real question is running the title back to see whether the Grantor whom you purchased the property ever had any right, title, and interest to oil, gas and minerals in the land at question.
I hate to get your hopes up but I doubt you own any minerals. Based on the fact that the severance between the surface estate and mineral estate occurred so many years ago that your transaction involved only the surface.
You could hire a landman that could find out in 1 or 2 days but that could be pricey. I'd love to help out but my job would not allow to work on an outside project. However, I'm here to offer any free advice as many others this board do.
Thank you for your help and the information you provided. Do you know how much it would cost to hire a "Landman"?
Shell will have a drilling title opinion which details the mineral ownership of your lots. You can contact Shell land department and ask about this. If your lots are used for well pads, pipelines, electric lines, roads, etc. then you will be paid damages. Other surface rights include disposal wells, caliche and water - again unless reserved in earlier deeds.
It depends but I bet a good Landman could get done in 1-2 days. Depending on daily rate, expenses, per diem, etc. it could be anywhere between $500-$1000. I would wait for offers for purchase or leasing then the group will do that for you. I’d hold out and wait and see if any reach out. Then you will have the leverage to negotiate and myself and others here will help with any questions you may have.
Thank you Jack for the information.
Jack,
Can you tell me where you are doing quick searches for these WDs in Texas?
Hey John,
There are several different databases that you can use to search for public records filed in particular counties.
There is texaslandrecords.com although Loving County records aren't accessible which is a shame because it is a really well put together and very efficient.
Courthousedirect.com is another resource. However, unless you are doing a lot of searches then I wouldn't go that direction.
Countyrecords.com is fantastic and I find it extremely thorough and helpful. I'm will have to check but I believe that if you purchase a subscription to a certain county then you can preview for $2.00 and purchase for $4.00 (no matter if it is 4 pages or 50). However, this again is all in relation to the quantity and depth of your search.
My personal opinion and that which I use the most is undoubtedly texasfile.com . You create an account and add funds in increments of $20, $50, $100, $250, etc. There are 4 major reasons I prefer texasfile.com:
1) Counties - You can pretty much access any county in Texas and some out of state counties. The dates for each specific county can range from 100 years back to 20-30 or less. I think the reason for this is if a county is located in an active area such as the Permian then the date range will correspond with the demand.
For example, Loving County date range for searching is 5/09/1905 to 4/28/2017.
2) Pricing - I really like how they provide the Preview option for $2.00. Maybe I'm just cheap but the Preview option allows you to in essence preview a document and more importantly make sure that it is the document that you are looking for. Let's say I had a Assignment & Bill of Sale to look up or a Probate. I can preview for $2.00 instead of $15 or $20+ dollars and be certain of whether or not I've got the right document. Only drawback is that if you preview and find the doc you are looking for? You have to pay the $2.00 then a $1.00 per page. My rule is if it is 5 pages or less then I buy instead of preview.
3) Ability to search by Legal Description - Besides grantor/grantee, doc number, and Vol./Page, you have the ability to search by legal descriptions. Whether it be the Section, Blk, Abstract, Survey, etc. you have that resource at your hand and it is rather straightforward.
4) Search Statewide - For $5.00, you can search all records in any and all counties in Texas. I love this. Log on to your account, from the home page click "Search Records" and at the top of that page above where all the Texas counties are listed, you can do a statewide search. I've found that my great grandmother owned interest in counties my family never even knew about. I've found documents that make reference to one county that for whatever reason was not filed in that county, only to find that it was filed in a neighboring county or a county where that person was domiciled.
One thing to keep in mind, if you do a statewide search for "Smith" then your results will be substantial. If you searched "Sriracha" as a last name, then your results will be limited and you can use the filter tool at the top to search for particular names. So if you are searching for "Smith" and you know the name is John Smith then search "Smith J*" which should limit your searches.
That's just my 2 cents. Other may advise differently, but searching is free, preview is nice, and you have access to several counties. Also beware or mindful, if you search "Newcombe" then search "Newcomb" as well. I always double-check if there could be a variation in names.
If you would like send me a friend request and just basically what you are looking to find, I can do some quick searches and provide you with the Doc # and Vol., Page. Then you can plug those numbers in and pull the documents.
Also! JOIN NARO haha. Great resource. I need to renew my membership.
Thank you for the time that you took out of your day to do this. Very much appreciated sir.
Not a problem at all, I’m happy to help. That’s why this forum is so great because we can all work together and I’m a firm believer that mineral owners should be able to share information, advice, and any possible resource that can level the playing field.
I work in the oil business and I’m a mineral owner. I can see from both sides. There needs to be balance and transparency. The oil companies have the means to research and determine if certain minerals are viable and worth paying for. Some groups do it the right way, others the wrong way. Low ball offers or offer high prices to get your signature on a PSA or OPSA then that $30k per NMA gets locked in, off the market for anywhere between 45-90 business days and then sure enough you hear this: “Yeah we’ve looked into it and well we are only going to purchase these minerals at $10K per NMA.” So much time has passed, so many unilateral agreements, that you end up settling. Then it is flipped to another group for $15-20K per NMA.
Not all groups work this way. There are quite a few brokerage firms and/or independent buyers that practice the honest, ethical code. There are groups backed by venture capitalists and even a few backed by private equity groups that have the monies ready to go.
I have a tendency to ramble but with the resources we have at our disposal in the oil industry coupled with the info & insight from myself and members of this board a level playing field is created.
Always feel free to reach out and ask questions.
I would also look into wind rights & water rights (riparian rights). If you own the surface, go reserve those resources. I think we may have 30-50 years left with this oil & gas rodeo. So I’ve worked to educate myself on how I can be an expert in those other resources and alternative energy options. Always have to have that plan B & C ready in case things go south.