Anyone know what's happening in this area? I own about 10 NMA here. I received quite a few lease offers all at once, then I started receiving force pool court documents, which now seem to have eased up. It was a really busy time for us, so most of that stuff got shoved in the "deal with this later" pile and I am circling back to it now.
Well, you only have 20 days to answer a force pooling and that includes weekends. If you do not answer in the time frame you will be assigned the worst option at 1/8th. Dig into that pile quickly and see if you can rescue yourself on any of them. Otherwise, you are stuck with 1/8th. Never ignore a pooling order. On the good side, that means you will get a well shortly. Either 180 days to spud or 365 days. Each order states the time frame.
I just checked the status of those pending orders and you are hopefully in luck. No order date is posted, so you may be okay. They were probably postponed. Keep a close eye on your mail as you have that very short time in which to answer.
You still have time to lease if you would prefer to do that. Make sure you get a NO POST PRODUCTION costs lease, no enhanced production, no nothing.
I think the last notice I received said it was delayed, the pooling. I had a couple of lease options on the table with Silver Creek being the one I remember, but those were back in March, along with the pooling Notice of Hearing. I don't recall ever getting a legitimate pool date. Do you think I should explore those? (Although it is months later? And I don't believe I've received further offers since the delay.) I feel like my Exhibit A is pretty decent, but would probably email you any received offers - if all right.
Corterra Energy and Silver Creek Oil and Gas are competing for leases in this township and several others that are due north of 6N-9E. I've been offered as little as $200 and as much as $300 (initially) from each of them in various sections near here. Both two low in my opinion and I'm confident prices will come up, though have noticed they (especially Silver Creek) are getting some poolings done at only $100-$200/acre in these townships. Since forced-pooling bonus amounts often reflect the average lease prices being paid in the pooled section, it indicates people are "settling" for those amounts in their leases.
Interesting also is the fact that I recently noticed there were exactly 26 "pending" pooling applications in 6N-9E alone, meaning that there are 26 sections out of a possible 36 being force-pooled at basically the same time! Perhaps an effort by the aforementioned operators to get recalcitrant or unlocatable mineral owners pooled at low rates before prices go up due to the obvious competition for leases in this, and other townships directly north of here.
I in fact was very recently "surprise pooled" by one of these operators in this township, and as I told the landman working for them when he called about leasing some other properties we own nearby, I didn't recall even being offered a lease in the pooled section, much less being made aware it was being force-pooled. The first notice I got was when I received the pooling bonus check in the mail! See article entitled "What's Worse Than an Oklahoma Drive-By Pooling?" in the winter issue of the OK-NARO newsletter for more on lessees who "forget" to negotiate before applying for a pooling order. In 6N-10E (next township east) poolings are more in the $500/acre range and Atalaya Resources seems to be the main player in that township currently, though Corterra has bought a few leases there recently as well. Hope this helps you out with "what's happening" in this area.
Thank you!