Regarding Upton County Texas. Deceased Grandfather had standard Non-Participating Mineral Deed for the full Section of land. Exxon does not show my Grandfather as an owner on their pay deck for a Lease in the Section; however, a different Operator previously used the same Deed to validate ownership on one of their leases in the same Section. I submitted the Deed to Exxon Owner Relations several times, asking their Division Order Analyst to review. They don’t research the Deed. Instead they simply look at the pay deck, send me a generic email that he does not appear to be an owner, and close the Case. Is this a common practice? How do I get Exxon to actually review the Deed, and show me their documentation if they determine the Deed is invalid for some reason?
If your grandfather is deceased, then title for any minerals and NPRI needs to be established in his heirs, either by probate or Texas intestacy statutes. This is a burden on the heirs. Are you certain that this was not done by his wife or children? In that case, Exxon would have the NPRI attributed to the heirs. First step is to trace the NPRI from the deed into your grandfather forward to make sure that he did assign the NPRI to anyone before his death. If he assigned the NPRI, then the assignee would be on the Exxon records. Then see if probate was filed or perhaps affidavits of heirship by his heirs. Upton County records are only on TexasFile and on CountyRecords back to 1984, so you may need to go to the county to trace before that time.
Thank you for the reply. This was not passed to his heirs. I previously transferred ownership of a separate royalty in this same Section that was from a different Operator, so I have copies of the Probated Wills that I had filed in Upton County documenting the inheritance trail to me. I provided the Probated Wills to Exxon Owner Relations along with the Deed. Exxon front line Owner Relations Reps agree that Exxon should research the Deed and add his name to the pay deck if the Deed is valid (then transfer ownership to me per the documented inheritance trail). Or their Division Order Analyst should provide the document that shows if the Deed is no longer valid. All the curative documents have been forwarded three times; however, Exxon does not appear to research the Deed. Instead, they simply look for the names on the pay deck, send a generic response, and close the Case. I’m curious if others have experienced this type of disconnect, and if they found a resolution motivating an Operator to follow through?
Your problem is that Exxon does not have your grandfather listed in the chain of title on the tract which is included in producing wells. Perhaps because the deed was missed or perhaps because the deed has limitations or perhaps because your grandfather assigned his interest to another. Regardless, Exxon is not going to spend time to research your title. The burden now falls on you to prove the deed is still in effect. This is a reason to trace the deed history. Then you may need an attorney to help you discuss with Exxon. I am confused by your post that there are 2 deeds that apply in 2 separate scenarios with 2 different operators. Why wouldn’t both deeds apply to both Exxon and the other operator? Are these really mineral or NPRI deeds (permanent) or are these overriding royalty interests (which expire with underlying lease)? Are there any depth limitations or limitation to a specific unit?
Let’s assume Exxon reviews the deed and agrees that it appears to be valid. The difficulty is that payment from a well is essentially a zero-sum process. In other words, if Exxon puts you into title and begins paying you, it necessarily has to reduce or eliminate someone else’s interest. The problem for Exxon is that it may not know whose interest should be reduced.
I understand how frustrating that can be, and you can certainly continue pressing Exxon for an answer. However, in my experience, the most effective way to resolve the issue is to show Exxon the underlying title work—essentially, demonstrating the chain of title and identifying all of the owners and their respective interests in the tract.
I realize your immediate reaction may be either (a) “This shouldn’t be my responsibility,” or (b) “I don’t have the expertise to determine all of that.” Both are understandable. Unfortunately, in my experience, providing Exxon with a clear chain of title showing how the ownership should be allocated is usually the most practical way to get the issue resolved.
It is survival of the fittest in the royalty world, particularly on many of the permian tracts with highly fractionalize royalty interests. Many companies are simply not finishing the title to establish all the non participating royalty owners. You just have to establish a clear chain of title and demand answers. I have a number of those situations right now.
Thank you for your reply. To clarify, there are two Operators who have wells in the same Section. Chevron had an older well in the Section they eventually sold to BCP Resources. Exxon also drilled some Horizontal Wells in the same Section earlier this year. There is only one Deed. Chevron/BCP recognized the Deed and my Grandfather was included in their pay deck, but Exxon does not appear to be aware of it’s existence and my Grandfather is missing from their pay deck. I originally thought an Exxon Division Order Analyst would review the Deed and either add him to the pay deck (then transfer ownership to me based on Probated Wills), or let me know why they feel the Deed is invalid. The non-participating Deed is perpetual, conveys NPRI and includes the full 640 acres (more or less). But I believe you answered my question - my original assumption was incorrect. It is actually my burden to trace the Deed history and prove to Exxon the Deed is still valid, and then compel them to accept it. I will need an attorney for this. The Decimal interest is pretty small, so I need to decide if hiring an attorney is more expensive that the potential benefit. Anyway, thank you for your help!
If Exxon is drilling horizontal wells in Upton County then the interest has to be very small to not have a significant value. I deal with this frustration every day. Companies will spend $100,000,000 drilling wells to traverse a section then make a decision to either not complete the title or do it so slowly that it take two years to get into a pay status. What commonly happens is a company will complete the title on the known mineral owners that have all their title up to date and are apparent, then group all the others into some kind of generic interest such as “unknown”. Things are getting worse instead of better. You have to be consistent and present your data in a manner that can’t really be denied. The bad part is Upton County is a very hard county in which to do research. They are very limited on online resources.
The DO analyst does not have the authority to determine whether a deed is valid or not. The job is to calculate the pay deck - all decimals of royalty owners and working interests - to be 100% ownership based on the drilling title opinion (DTO). DTO is done by attorneys based on the leases and deeds as received from its landman researcher, who may have missed the NRPI. Your NPRI was will have to deducted out of the decimals of the chain of owners out of the original grantor to keep the net ownership at 100%. This can be a lot of work and cause multiple interests to go into suspense. So the DO analyst may not have forwarded the deed or request to the legal department. You need to bundle all your evidence together, not just a deed by itself. Have you tried sending the copies of the recorded deed and all recorded probate filings in Upton County by both email and by certified mail to Exxon, along with a letter stating that your grandfather owned the NPRI at his death and that these filings prove you are the current owner? This is where an attorney who has dealt with Exxon might come in handy. Do you have copies of the original Chevron division orders? Finally, as Spud noted, a small decimal can be very valuable when based on 100% of well revenues over lifetime of each well.
Hi @TennisDaze. Looking at Texas RRC GIS Map (Production Data), the Decimal on the Exxon Leases have theoretically accumulated about $10k in Oil/Gas, and will likely pay about $2K per month until the initial flush declines. In March 2026, TX RRC GIS showed the Exxon Wells in Permitted Status. I e-mailed Exxon all Probated Wills/Deed that were filed in Upton County that were previously used to transfer my deceased Grandfather’s ownership of the older Chevron/BPS Lease to me. I requested an Exxon analyst review the Deed and adjust the pay deck accordingly (per this thread I was mistaken in my assumption they would review the Deed). Since March 2026 Exxon opened three separate Cases, and closed all three when they did not see my deceased Grandfather, his deceased wife, or my deceased mother on the pay deck. From the prior posts, it sounds like the first thing I need to do is hire an attorney/Landman to officially trace the Deed/Title for authenticity. Then have the attorney mail all documents (Certified) to Exxon’s Legal Dept. I assume they will take it more seriously from an attorney than if I mail it. I have a question, if it’s appropriate in this forum. I grew up in West Texas, but the attorneys I used to know have long since passed away. I currently live in far north Tarrant County. Can you recommend an attorney in my area who I could meet with? Or a resource I can use to locate an appropriate attorney? Also, thank you and spud for discussing this with me. But please let me know if I overstay my welcome on this issue.
@tpool, Since you are in Tarrant county use Eric Camp oil and gas attorney out of Ft Worth. He is listed above in the directorties section of the menu at the top of this site. He has done a lot of work for me in the Permian, Upton, and other surrounding counties. as well as directed to me to other attornies in other States. MK
We might be able to offer up some specifics if we knew the section in question.
Section 30 (A-735)