I received a letter from XTO

Division Orders
1

Hello.

I received a letter from XTO today regarding drilling on land where I have an interest.

Re: Meyer 24X-22B Division Order Title Opinion (doto) Township 157 North, Range 96 West, 5th P.M.

Section 15: All

Section 22: All

Can you be so friendly to explain this to me with some simpler words what this means?

It’s not so easy for me up here in Norway and understand every subject it says in this.

Have they found something on our land?

What do they mean by: The comment may have a bearing for your interest in the well and XTO ability to recognize your interest for payment of production proceeds?

What do they mean by: XTO is preparing to move this well to pay status? And what is meant by XTO could place your production proceeds in suspend?

2

Good morning, Jan. Take it in order shall we?

Section 15: All

Section 22: All, are legal descriptions. Usually meaning a full section of 640 acres. Do you own two entire sections of mineral rights?

Yes, they have found something. Moving the well into pay status would be a sure sign of that.

The comment is probably some title requirement such as some probates being done or if too many probates a quiet title action might be better. I think they are claiming that your title is not totally up to date so it is not clear enough. The application of a few thousand dollars and 6 months to a year with a North Dakota lawyer will fix this.

Move the well into pay status means they are ready to start paying.

Placing your production proceeds in suspend or suspense means they are not going to pay you until you meet their title requirements. There is not an actual account, just an entry in a ledger and the operator will have the free use of your money until you meet their title requirement.

Now for the fun part : )

The IP, initial production of the well was computed at 748 barrels oil for a 24 hour period, not fantastic but not bad either.

Production in December 2012, 26 days 2,984 barrels oil.

Production in January 2013, 11 days, 4,964 barrels oil. I think this well will improve for a time and then decline as all do in the Bakken.

There is also gas production, 10,719 MCF [MCF = 1,000 cubic feet] produced, 5,341 sold. 5,306 flared [burnt]. The gas from these wells is usually rich. My gas usually sells for between $7 and $9 per MCF. You are fortunate that they are selling gas immediately, many wells burn all of it for the first year.

I hope this helps and if you have more questions, do not hesitate to ask. It’s my pleasure to help.

3

Hello and thanks for your reply.

It so happens that my grandfather had rights, but he died so it was my father and his four siblings who inherited this.

But in May 2012 my father died, it is I who has inherited his share of the rights.

I received a letter from the Bakken oil, and they wanted a death certificate and certificate of probate.

Bakken oil also sent me a new contract that I signed, which it said it would give $1,000 pr.net mineral acer and a signing bonus of $531.

3/16 Royalty

The $531 I received.

But that was yesterday I received a new letter from the Bakken oil which I described to you the text above.

There is also a company called HESS.

They send me this email: I am working on the transfer of interest of Kjell Vanberg my grandfather to the Heirs listed in the Probate information. Without the Proof of Death and Heir Ship on Rune Tommy Vanberg my father, his interest will be placed into suspension until we receive this information. Please forward this at your earliest convenience.

I send a death certificate and certificate of probate.

I got this in reply: I am in receipt of your email and Death and Probate documents that were attachments. The documents that were late by two Hess Ingvill Eriksen my aunt are recorded in Williams County, North Dakota, and Indicated that the mineral interest is to be passed to your mother. If this mineral interest is to be passed to you from your mother, the documents Indicating this would have to be recorded in Williams County, North Dakota and be translated into English.

I responded to this, and got this in response from HESS: I am not sure who Bakken Oil is. If you have anything that has been sent to you from Bakken Oil, I will be glad to look at it. The mineral interest will be transferred into your mother’s name and if we receive an assignment that is recorded in Williams County, North Dakota, reflecting interest here is to be transferred to you, then we can make the transfer. All materials that are recorded in the U.S. need to be translated into English.

You write that you recommend and use a lawyer, I mean not a Norwegian lawyer, but one from the USA.

Do you have someone you can recommend?

How much money does a lawyer in such a case?

Thanks for the reply.

Regards Jan-Richard Vanberg

4

Jan, I am sorry that I can’t recommend a lawyer. The probate, and if more than one probate needs to be done it would probably preferable to do a quiet title action instead, needs to be done by a lawyer licensed to practice law in North Dakota. I usually recommend that people hire their probate attorney from one of the eastern counties of the state because they should be less busy than ones from oil producing counties, and you can probate in any county in the state of North Dakota. I probated my father’s estate 3 years ago and it cost me $1,500 but the busier the lawyers become the more money they charge, because they can.

Jan, if the bonus was $1,000 per net mineral acre and you received $531, I would think it likely that you have 1/2 [0.5] acre and it might take as much as 3 years worth of royalty if the hiring of the lawyer costs as much as $2,500 which it easily could.

From the wording of your last post, I am uncertain if you might be inheriting from more than one source, especially because one company, XTO drilled the well and you have been approached by another company, Hess. There are many companies with Bakken in their name, my reference to Bakken oil before was to the widespread geologic formation where the oil from your well is produced.

Jan, I think the most important thing at this point is to see if you have inherited from more than one source. If you have property that is yet unleased, you may be able to negotiate a higher bonus payment than $1,000 per net mineral acre. You also need to handle any and all probates in one legal action because you don’t want to have to probate 2 or 3 times because of the expense.

If someone sends you a new lease offer, do not sign it until you know what you own and what you may own but not know it yet. There may be a clause/language in your lease you have already signed that says all property that comes into your possession in the area in the future is automatically leased also. A careful reading of the lease should be done.

Jan, I am sending you a friend request, check the top right of this webpage. I am sending the request because at some point I think you are going to have to show something that is private that you may not want on the open forum. I am not working for any oil companies, I am just a mineral owner who has some experience with my own wells. I have never bought or sold mineral properties and I don’t expect anything for helping. I just want to pay forward help that was given me.

Sincerely;

Robert Kennedy

5

Hey thanks for the help so far. I accepted your friend request.

I think I’ll bring my documents to a translator to understand everything that is written. Or will you look at the documents I have got for me? If I can trust you with this information.

Regards Jan-Richard Vanberg

6

Jan,

Yes the letter indicates that they have drilled a producing well and are getting ready to start paying you on the production but it sounds like they are needing some sort of information and/or documentation in order to pay you. They will hold your money until they get what they need. It sounds like they are wanting you to sign a division order agreeing to the amount of your share of the proceeds. Make sure it shows your proper amount of interest before you sign anything.

7

I recommend that you contact the company that is holding your royalty payments in suspense and ask them if they would accept an Affidavit of Heirship for your mother instead of a Probate. It would show her entire marital history and list of heirs, and be filed in the County Clerk’s Office pertaining to the County in which the minerals are located. I have no idea how things work in North Dakota, but in Texas sometimes that is sufficient to get the money flowing. It would also be about one-tenth the cost of a regular Probate filing in Texas. If that fails, offer them some lefse.

A Probate would be better from a title perspective, but if there is no other reason to file the Probate and you cannot rely on a lot of royalties to reimburse you for the legal expenses involved in filing the Probate, the Affidavit of Heirship might be one alternative for you.

8

P.S. I don’t know about Norway, but I leased somebody who was living in Finland at the time; and there is no such thing as a Notary Public there. In Texas (I have no idea about North Dakota), the common notion is that a document must be notarized in order to file it in the public record. But I learned that is not actually the case. As I recall, in my case where the guy was in Finland and there are no Notaries Public there, it is up to the individual County Clerk back in Texas whether or not to file that document in the public record. In my case, the filing was in Tarrant County, and they said as long as a bank manager witnessed the signature and specified his name, title, and employer that was sufficient!

9

If you need a notary in a foreign country that doesn’t have notaries, you can usually get things stamped / notarized by a consular office of the United States. I’ve seen deeds and mortgages notarized by consulate in the United Arab Emirates before.

10

Yes, I have seen that too, but only on older documents, not any in recent title.

11

The specific one I have seen was notarized in the UAE in 2007.