John Findley Survey -Harrison County, East Texas - Reasonable Signing Bonus

Recently I was contacted by a company offering to lease my mineral rights. Can someone tell me what is a reasonable signing bonus and royalty percentage? My brother and I each was offered $4000 signing bonus and a 1/5 royalty. We inherited (jointly) 16/96th of an undivided interest in the oil, gas and mineral interest in 97 acres of the Francis O’Neal, A-527, Bailey Anderson, A-30 and John Findley A-247 surveys. I don’t know if these surveys are part of any particular shale. Can someone help us? Any information would be truly appreciated.

Since no one else has chimed in yet, I will. If I’m doing the math correctly, you and your brother jointly own the equivalent of approx. 17 acres. If you got a total of $8000 for that acreage, that amounts to $470 per acre. I have no idea about Texas, but in Colorado, that would be considered a pretty decent offer–not fantastic, but better than most. The 20% royalty is also about as good as I’ve seen around here. Have you spent some time purusing other posts from Texas? That would probably be much more enlightening than me.

I just saw this discussion, and it is definitely on point. Sorry, I don’t know how to make it a link. It looks like $500 to $800 would be the norm, but I think someone else said maybe even $2000.

Rates for Signing Bonuses and Royalty Interest for East TexasPosted by D H Y on May 28, 2010 at 8:12am in Oil and Gas Leasing Help Group Send Message View Discussions

I did a quick search of the TRRC GIS Survey Map and it shows activity in the Findley and O’Neal Surveys. Not so much activity in the Anderson Survey though. Penn Virginia Oil and Gas has been active in the Findley Survey area. These areas have multi pay zones and formations. Cotton Valley, Travis Peak, Petit, and the newer Bossier/Haynesville Shale Play. If I were leasing I would be negotiating for better terms but the low natural gas prices has dampened this somewhat lately. I know of a recent mineral lease targeting the Haynesville Shale, in East Texas, going for 2K a net mineral acre bonus and 25% royalty interest rate. I have also heard of higher bonuses in the areas where proven production data was available.

Lisa thank you for your response. It is very helpful. I will try to find the other post you mentioned. Also if you know of any gas and oil attorneys in East Texas you can refer me to would be great!

Lisa said:

I just saw this discussion, and it is definitely on point. Sorry, I don’t know how to make it a link. It looks like $500 to $800 would be the norm, but I think someone else said maybe even $2000.

Rates for Signing Bonuses and Royalty Interest for East TexasPosted by D H Y on May 28, 2010 at 8:12am in Oil and Gas Leasing Help Group
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Thanks Mike. I was wondering can you tell me if these surveys are in that Bossier/Haynesville Shale or how I find out? Any referral to an oil or gas attorney would be helpful as well.

Mike Igau said:

I did a quick search of the TRRC GIS Survey Map and it shows activity in the Findley and O’Neal Surveys. Not so much activity in the Anderson Survey though. Penn Virginia Oil and Gas has been active in the Findley Survey area. These areas have multi pay zones and formations. Cotton Valley, Travis Peak, Petit, and the newer Bossier/Haynesville Shale Play. If I were leasing I would be negotiating for better terms but the low natural gas prices has dampened this somewhat lately. I know of a recent mineral lease targeting the Haynesville Shale, in East Texas, going for 2K a net mineral acre bonus and 25% royalty interest rate. I have also heard of higher bonuses in the areas where proven production data was available.

See the bottom of my last post for the title of the discussion I was referring to. If you just enter “east Texas” in the search box, it should come up, or cut and paste the following into your browser: forum.http://www.mineralrightsforum.com/forum/topics/rates-for-signing-bonuses-and

As for an oil and gas attorney, I’m afraid I don’t know of any in Texas.

El Edwards said:

Lisa thank you for your response. It is very helpful. I will try to find the other post you mentioned. Also if you know of any gas and oil attorneys in East Texas you can refer me to would be great!

Lisa said:
I just saw this discussion, and it is definitely on point. Sorry, I don’t know how to make it a link. It looks like $500 to $800 would be the norm, but I think someone else said maybe even $2000.

Rates for Signing Bonuses and Royalty Interest for East TexasPosted by D H Y on May 28, 2010 at 8:12am in Oil and Gas Leasing Help Group
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Lisa thanks! I now know I’m in the Haynesville Shale I just don’t know where in that shale. Any direction how I can find that information. I am so new to this and I really would like to get as much information as I can before I start seeking out an attorney. Any advice whatsoever would be appreciated. This is exciting and scary, I don’t want to make a foolish mistake. Also have you heard of Petro-Land Group? That is the name of the petroleum landmen that contacted me.

Lisa said:

See the bottom of my last post for the title of the discussion I was referring to. If you just enter “east Texas” in the search box, it should come up, or cut and paste the following into your browser: forum.http://www.mineralrightsforum.com/forum/topics/rates-for-signing-bo…

As for an oil and gas attorney, I’m afraid I don’t know of any in Texas.

El Edwards said:
Lisa thank you for your response. It is very helpful. I will try to find the other post you mentioned. Also if you know of any gas and oil attorneys in East Texas you can refer me to would be great!

Lisa said:
I just saw this discussion, and it is definitely on point. Sorry, I don’t know how to make it a link. It looks like $500 to $800 would be the norm, but I think someone else said maybe even $2000.

Rates for Signing Bonuses and Royalty Interest for East TexasPosted by D H Y on May 28, 2010 at 8:12am in Oil and Gas Leasing Help Group
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I didn’t have a clue what was going on myself until a month or two ago myself, so believe me, you’ll start picking-up a lot of info as time passes. Resourceplay.com and I believe the Texas Railroad Commission are good places to start. Resourceplay is an aerial view of all the oil and gas wells in the US. So, you can look specifically at your section, and see what is currently around you. I would venture to guess that the TRC website will probably show you all the pending and approved permits in the state. It should even show production on each well. I would presume leases are probably recorded in Texas as well, so if your county is sophisticated, you should be able to view all those online. The lease won’t show the bonus payment, but they still provide a lot of info like terms, royalty percentage, who is doing the leasing, who has leased, etc. Also use the search engine on the forum, and the articles under the tabs at the top, and google a lot. I don’t know anything about Petro-Land Group, other than what I just googled. They at least have a good website at petroland.com. They are just a broker. You need to ask who he is actually representing–the operator who will come in and actually drill. That’s the company you really want to check out. One company that approached us looked a little suspicious, but it turns out they actually represent a very large national oil and gas co.

El Edwards said:

Lisa thanks! I now know I’m in the Haynesville Shale I just don’t know where in that shale. Any direction how I can find that information. I am so new to this and I really would like to get as much information as I can before I start seeking out an attorney. Any advice whatsoever would be appreciated. This is exciting and scary, I don’t want to make a foolish mistake. Also have you heard of Petro-Land Group? That is the name of the petroleum landmen that contacted me.


Lisa said:
See the bottom of my last post for the title of the discussion I was referring to. If you just enter “east Texas” in the search box, it should come up, or cut and paste the following into your browser: forum.http://www.mineralrightsforum.com/forum/topics/rates-for-signing-bo…

As for an oil and gas attorney, I’m afraid I don’t know of any in Texas.

El Edwards said:
Lisa thank you for your response. It is very helpful. I will try to find the other post you mentioned. Also if you know of any gas and oil attorneys in East Texas you can refer me to would be great!

Lisa said:
I just saw this discussion, and it is definitely on point. Sorry, I don’t know how to make it a link. It looks like $500 to $800 would be the norm, but I think someone else said maybe even $2000.

Rates for Signing Bonuses and Royalty Interest for East TexasPosted by D H Y on May 28, 2010 at 8:12am in Oil and Gas Leasing Help Group
Send Message View Discussions

Sorry, I lied. It looks like Resourceplay only covers a few states–Texas is not one of them.

Lisa said:

I didn’t have a clue what was going on myself until a month or two ago myself, so believe me, you’ll start picking-up a lot of info as time passes. Resourceplay.com and I believe the Texas Railroad Commission are good places to start. Resourceplay is an aerial view of all the oil and gas wells in the US. So, you can look specifically at your section, and see what is currently around you. I would venture to guess that the TRC website will probably show you all the pending and approved permits in the state. It should even show production on each well. I would presume leases are probably recorded in Texas as well, so if your county is sophisticated, you should be able to view all those online. The lease won’t show the bonus payment, but they still provide a lot of info like terms, royalty percentage, who is doing the leasing, who has leased, etc. Also use the search engine on the forum, and the articles under the tabs at the top, and google a lot. I don’t know anything about Petro-Land Group, other than what I just googled. They at least have a good website at petroland.com. They are just a broker. You need to ask who he is actually representing–the operator who will come in and actually drill. That’s the company you really want to check out. One company that approached us looked a little suspicious, but it turns out they actually represent a very large national oil and gas co.

El Edwards said:
Lisa thanks! I now know I’m in the Haynesville Shale I just don’t know where in that shale. Any direction how I can find that information. I am so new to this and I really would like to get as much information as I can before I start seeking out an attorney. Any advice whatsoever would be appreciated. This is exciting and scary, I don’t want to make a foolish mistake. Also have you heard of Petro-Land Group? That is the name of the petroleum landmen that contacted me.


Lisa said:
See the bottom of my last post for the title of the discussion I was referring to. If you just enter “east Texas” in the search box, it should come up, or cut and paste the following into your browser: forum.http://www.mineralrightsforum.com/forum/topics/rates-for-signing-bo…

As for an oil and gas attorney, I’m afraid I don’t know of any in Texas.

El Edwards said:
Lisa thank you for your response. It is very helpful. I will try to find the other post you mentioned. Also if you know of any gas and oil attorneys in East Texas you can refer me to would be great!

Lisa said:
I just saw this discussion, and it is definitely on point. Sorry, I don’t know how to make it a link. It looks like $500 to $800 would be the norm, but I think someone else said maybe even $2000.

Rates for Signing Bonuses and Royalty Interest for East TexasPosted by D H Y on May 28, 2010 at 8:12am in Oil and Gas Leasing Help Group
Send Message View Discussions

Can anyone tell me how to find information regarding production activity in the O’Neal and Findley surveys?

El Edwards said:

Thanks Mike. I was wondering can you tell me if these surveys are in that Bossier/Haynesville Shale or how I find out? Any referral to an oil or gas attorney would be helpful as well.

Mike Igau said:
I did a quick search of the TRRC GIS Survey Map and it shows activity in the Findley and O’Neal Surveys. Not so much activity in the Anderson Survey though. Penn Virginia Oil and Gas has been active in the Findley Survey area. These areas have multi pay zones and formations. Cotton Valley, Travis Peak, Petit, and the newer Bossier/Haynesville Shale Play. If I were leasing I would be negotiating for better terms but the low natural gas prices has dampened this somewhat lately. I know of a recent mineral lease targeting the Haynesville Shale, in East Texas, going for 2K a net mineral acre bonus and 25% royalty interest rate. I have also heard of higher bonuses in the areas where proven production data was available.

I listed below the procedure to get production and well information from the TRRC web site:

Texas Railroad Commision Web Site

  1. Select and click on the “Online Research” Queries
  2. Select the “GIS Map Viewer” and click on “Launch Application”
  3. Select and enter the County of Interest
  4. Select the Map Tool “Identify Wells”
  5. Select Survey/Abstract and enter the name of Survey or Abstract Number a. This should take you to the Survey of interest
  6. Well Symbols: Red = gas Blue = Permitted Wells not completed Green = Oil Wells a. Click on any well symbols to display the well data

There is much information available and I would advise experimenting and navigating to see what you can find. You should be able to get production performance information, drilling permit information, well logs and much more. Hope this helps.

El Edwards said:

Can anyone tell me how to find information regarding production activity in the O’Neal and Findley surveys?

El Edwards said:
Thanks Mike. I was wondering can you tell me if these surveys are in that Bossier/Haynesville Shale or how I find out? Any referral to an oil or gas attorney would be helpful as well.

Mike Igau said:
I did a quick search of the TRRC GIS Survey Map and it shows activity in the Findley and O’Neal Surveys. Not so much activity in the Anderson Survey though. Penn Virginia Oil and Gas has been active in the Findley Survey area. These areas have multi pay zones and formations. Cotton Valley, Travis Peak, Petit, and the newer Bossier/Haynesville Shale Play. If I were leasing I would be negotiating for better terms but the low natural gas prices has dampened this somewhat lately. I know of a recent mineral lease targeting the Haynesville Shale, in East Texas, going for 2K a net mineral acre bonus and 25% royalty interest rate. I have also heard of higher bonuses in the areas where proven production data was available.

If you have not already found this resource, you should definately check out the www.GoHaynesvilleShale.com website as there is much information there that will be interesting for you in Harrison County.

There is also a subgroup just for Harrison County at:

http://www.gohaynesvilleshale.com/group/harrisoncountytexas

There have been some consisitantly decent Haynesville Shale completions in Harrison County recently generally coming in at the 8 mmcfd to 10 mmcfd range.

The are is also a stacked play with producing formations in the various Bossier, Cotton Valley, Travis Peak, Pettet and other layers.

Good neighborhood for you to be in.

Definately check to see who the operator that Petroland is leasing for. I imagine that it will probably be Penn Virginia, Devon, Chesapeak, Petrohawk or another major player.

We have recently cut a deal for a mineral lease with Devon in Shelby County in East Texas also within the same play.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

David bubbagaar@live.com