I'm new to this forum, and this will be a newbie question. I probably don't even know what I don't know, but here goes ...
I've recently come in to ownership of mineral interests, through family inheritance, in several counties in Oklahoma. I'm trying to learn as much as I can--as well as figure out who should be paying me.
I think I understand that the mineral rights for a parcel of land can be held by a holding company, who leases operators to drill on that land. For the parcels for which I've received payments, the payments have come from the holders, not the operators. I've been able to search the OCC database for wells on each parcel and learn who the operators are--but how do I find out who the holder is who signed the lease?
Other family members have provided me with lists of holding companies who have issued payments in the past--but we have reason to suspect that the list is not complete. My brother and sister and I all have equivalent interests, and we know of at least one company that has paid me, but not them. When my brother called that company, the company had never heard of him. He's in the process of supplying documentation to support his claim ... but meanwhile we are perplexed as to what to do from here.
The question I'm hoping to have answered is, starting with a list of well leases and their respective operators, how do we find out who the holding company is for each of those leases?
Thanks for any assistance you can provide to a newbie!
My suggestion to you is hire an Oil and Gas Attorney to investigate this situation for you/brother/sister and split the cost among the 3 of you. And congratulations on your new inheritance.
Thanks so much for the quick reply. I kind of figured that's what we would end up doing, but wanted to ask around first.
So, am I at least correct in thinking that we need to figure out the holding companies for each of the parcels in order to know who should be paying? I realize an attorney might need to be the one to do this work--I'm just trying to verify that I understand what needs to happen. Am I way off base?
Not all operators handle the distribution of their royalty payments. The large companies will issue royalty checks but some smaller operators outsource that work. That might be why you see the name of an operator on the OCC but the checks come from a different company.
Fascinating. You have no prior experience managing minerals nor do you have an oil and gas background yet you managed to find, then navigate the occ website. Impressive.
I think your question will be better placed in the Oklahoma forum as each state will vary based upon existing state laws and case precedent. Oklahoma has a very active forum community with several attorneys, geologists, landmen, mineral managers and other land professionals regularly contributing.
Thanks, R! I know next to nothing about oil and gas, but I do know something about databases. :) I work in software--so researching complex topics and making information work for me is what I do.
I will take your advice to post my questions in the Oklahoma forum. I did find the MineralWeb pages for newbies--also very helpful. I'm so lucky to be embarking on this journey in a time when so much information is available through the Internet. My parents went through it in the 70s and 80s--they must have felt they were flying blind!
