Last week I was offered a lease, $1200 per net mineral acre on 10.6 acres. I have been reading for a week now and Im little confused as to what my next step is. I believe the royalty was 3/16....should I be looking for any activity near my section to compare or get a geology report. I believe we've dug up all the paper work, death certificates and Wills to move forward. Im also confused if I don't respond soon enough or don't take their offer and they force poole, does that in the end turn out to be a good thing for me or bad? Do they actually bypass me and go ahead without me or are they forced to work out an agreeable lease with ME?
It may be a good offer, but more than likely, it will climb. You get it to climb but not immediately jumping at the offer, and either waiting for additional offers from other companies, or actively soliciting other offers. Do a search in the corner for the county you live in, and maybe you’ll get lucky that others from your area are on the forum. If that doesn’t help, talk to your neighbors, and find out what they have been offered, and by whom. Go to the oil and gas commission website for your state, and see who has been pulling permits or drilling in your surrounding area, and then contact them. Ask them if they are interested in leasing your land. Leases are recorded at the clerk and recorders office of your county. They won’t show the bonus payment, but it will show everything else. You can use those recorded leases to find out who is leasing in the area, and you can contact them. It will also give you the names of landowners that you can contact. Also, try to band together with all of your neighbors–and negotiate as a group. There is power in numbers!
I don’t know much about forced pooling, but I know enough to tell you that you are not in imminent danger of forced pooling. You’ve probably got months after the vast majority of the people around you all sign. You will not just be forced pooled one day. I believe forced pooling is done through a petition by the operator to the oil and gas commission. You will have all kinds of notice, and the opportunity to go ahead and take the reasonable offer (that which your neighbors have received). They may just choose to ignore you though, rather than force pooling you. If you are force pooled, no you don’t dictate the terms. From what I’ve read, forced pooling is not what you really want, although for some people it does work out better for them. Have you read some of the other recent posts? Others have discussed it in the last day or two.
I don’t know much about forced pooling, but I know enough to tell you that you are not in imminent danger of forced pooling. You’ve probably got months after the vast majority of the people around you all sign. You will not just be forced pooled one day. I believe forced pooling is done through a petition by the operator to the oil and gas commission. You will have all kinds of notice, and the opportunity to go ahead and take the reasonable offer (that which your neighbors have received). They may just choose to ignore you though, rather than force pooling you. If you are force pooled, no you don’t dictate the terms. From what I’ve read, forced pooling is not what you really want, although for some people it does work out better for them. Have you read some of the other recent posts? Others have discussed it in the last day or two.