My nephews are in a hot trend in the Eagle Ford and recently their existing mineral lease has expired. It was with a very small Operator that engaged in the re-work of old plugged wells. Their lease expired in July. With very active leasing moving in their direction is it important for them to secure a release of lease from this small Operator?
From a landman’s standpoint, there is nothing we like more to see when running title to a tract of land than releases of all previous leases.
That avoids title issues down the road and makes the title process much quicker.
In my form, failure to release creates damage of $15.00 per day to the lessee.
Hey Mike,
Check your nephew’s lease to see if there were any provisions detailing the timeframe that the operator has to file the notification at the County Clerks office about the release of the old lease. Might be worthwhile to send a certified demand letter to the prior operator asking them to promptly file the release.
The release, when properly filed with the county, will give notification to any landmen leasing in your vicinity that the property is not under current lease and open for negotiations.
Thanks David: That is what my nephew will do and the reason I posted the thread. There seems to be some confusion on the old well permit being co-mingled with another lease. I don’t know how that happened but this procedure will clear up the mineral lease status. It appears the TRRC staff has some issues on accuracy at times.