Good morning, I have been asked by a very close friend to help facilitate the selling of some mineral rights she inherited from her mother. She currently has mineral interests in 11 counties, all in Oklahoma. We have copies of all the mineral deeds, pay stubs, and some division orders and each deed has been recorded in each of the counties that the interests are in. My question is how do we determine the NET acrage she owns in each county?
Not a land man or attorney. Don’t the mineral leases state the area covered? My experience is that Oklahoma isn’t as sophisticated as Texas in their county records, but probably the best way Is to contact an OK land man to run it down for you.
Hi James, Thank you for the reply. I could contact a landman here in Oklahoma to track things down, but the issue is the upfront cost associated with that. We have completed two deals thus far and have relied on the company buying the interests to run title and provide the mineral ownership report. I’m not sure that’s a very wise practice to continue. The first deal we did was for 19 acres in S1-15N-11W Blaine County OK and the mineral ownership report was wrong, it was off by almost 3 acres. That may not sound like a lot but at 10k+ an acre it adds up pretty quick. I caught it when we got the amended division order and there was still a decimal ownership credited to us. Hence, the reason I’m trying to figure some of this stuff out on my own prior to talking with anyone about selling again. I’m no fractional interest math genius but I’m certain I could figure enough of it out to at least be better prepared. Any suggestions on a landman would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks again! -TravisKnight
You would have to know the source of your interest, the royalty rate, the size of the unit/tract, and the NRI from the division order to reverse engineer it.