Lease - Not leased - Getting Leased - I'm so confused!

Oil and Gas Leasing Help
1

I hope someone can help me out...

I sold 3 acres in 2007 but retained the mineral rights because I leased them out to Carrizo on a three year lease. To make a long story short, the lease expired in 2008. I moved to Tulsa in 2007 and never thought about any activty until last week when I called a neighbor and found out XTO has two wells on a unit that includes the land I own the rights to. I called a landman and asked him to look up my land (not mine but I have the rights) and sure enough he said not only is my land inside the surface boundaries, it is also listed as "leased" and has been for a year.

I called XTO and got th run around. An analyst said I have no claim and there is "no well." So i called RRC and spoke to one of their attorneys who told me XTO made a false filing and that could possibly void the permit. I then called the person at XTO who signed he P12 showing my property as leased and she was surprised I did not have a lease and I should be paid. I explained what the RRC attorney said and she said she would call the XTO landman in charge of the area.

Within two hours I got a call from a contract landman who said XTO wants to lease my rights. Next day I got a FEDEX with a lease and a draft for $2500/acre and 23%. I called him back and said I wanted 25% and he agreed.

The costs I would share are from he wellhead to the pipe and the value is based on "market" price.

Do I have a claim for the previous year?

Can XTO decide they don't want my land if I get too pushy?

Is this a good offer?

The lease is in the Barnett Shale in south Arlington/Kennedale area.

The filings at the RRC still show I am leased but I have not signed anything yet.

Any help or good advice?

Thanks,

Bob

2

Dear Mr. Thompson,

You bring up some interesting points. This could possibly be a case where XTO inadvertently is producing in an illegal location without your lease.

You could easily be in the driver’s seat, but I really think that this should not be a do-it-yourself situation.

At the minimum, I would (and XTO would agree) to make the lease effective as of the date of drilling of the first well with the lease being specific that you are sharing in the well as of date of first production. You might could have gotten more than 1/4 royalty in this case.

You might want to consider employing an attorney or professional negotiator to get this resolved.

3

Good stuff, thanks Mr. Cotton. Most people seem to agree with you. If you have any recomendations in the Fort Worth area I would appreciate it. In the meantime I am going to move ahead with sending some emails to some oil/gas attorneys to get some feedback. Thanks again for confirming my gut feeling.

BT

4

Mr. Thompson,

Please contact me through my website and I will send some recommendations to you. One problem is getting an attorney in the area who is not conflicted out with XTO.

Bob Thompson said:

Good stuff, thanks Mr. Cotton. Most people seem to agree with you. If you have any recomendations in the Fort Worth area I would appreciate it. In the meantime I am going to move ahead with sending some emails to some oil/gas attorneys to get some feedback. Thanks again for confirming my gut feeling.

BT