I am new here as well and a royalty owner in the Hugoton Field. We also have some concerns with Linn Energy. We were part of the XTO/Linn swap. Our checks are down from Linn and I recently noticed that they have production dates & owner deductions listed on my last 4 statements from 2013 & 2014 with 0.00 in the owner gross. We started with Linn in January 2015. Please let me know if you have dates and amounts that do not apply. When I called owner relations they said production dates vary on statements and they would call me :) I noticed that Michael Linn sold almost all of his shares in Linn Energy last month.
Melanie,
The more I hear from other Mineral Rights Owners the more suspicious I get. I will forward your info to my attorney - all this info is very pertinent to their case.
I will keep ya'll posted.
Christy, Thank you for passing this info on to your attorney. I think we are in for a long ride! I appreciate the effort you have made to look into this. I will keep checking back for updates. Thanks again, Melanie
You are welcome - with our royalties going down by 2/3 the very month that Linn took over, it was too much of a coincidence. We never had that happen with Pioneer the entire time we have had it.......figures never lie but liars sure can figure...
Christy,
If you get a chance will you ask your attorney if any of the current royalty statements he is looking over have owner deductions listed for years before Linn took over the royalty owners lease? My statements have deductions from 2013 on them! Linn took over our lease in January 2015. I can't get anyone to answer my questions and they will not let me speak to accounting. If you find out anything let me know. Thanks, Melanie
You want to speak to Kathy Keith. She really helped me.
I'm not sure about the statements but you can contact him.
His name Erick Nordling. His number is (620) 544-4333. He is in Kansas. He is the president of SWKROA.
Give him a call. He said the more info the better - especially stubs with deductions.
Christy,
I assume you read the news today concerning Linn Energy? They are looking at bankruptcy in order to deal with their 10 billion dollar debit and they are out of borrowing facilities. Looks like a rough year for O&G!! Mel
OMGosh Mel, No, I did not see that. I will have to go look. They purchased our Kansas Pioneer which is the biggest monthly distribution and also purchased XTO which was the second biggest distribution - we were getting $1,200 per month between the two. This month we got just under $500 for both. I am not surprised.
What happens to our distributions at this point? If they claim bankruptcy can they postpone our distributions?
Thanks Chris
Chris, I'm no attorney, but I would very much suspect that Linn Energy is so big, and the existing revenue stream so valuable, that a bankruptcy judge would never allow the postponing or secession of the payment of royalties to royalty holders. The bankruptcy trustee would work out a plan to cut back all non-essential costs, which would include new drilling and whatever corporate overhead they can axe. But, because he/she is a trustee, he/she would make sure that the royalty holders are still getting paid from the huge income stream that still exists. BTW, many firms have emerged from bankruptcy much healthier than before, like Pacific G&E, Chrysler, General Motors, Enron, etc.
Here is an article that I found yesterday that, while not entirely applicable to Kansas law, explains some things that royalty holders can do to protect themselves. http://bismarcktribune.com/a-look-at-bankruptcy-in-the-oil-patch/ar...
Bottom line, I am not worried about Linn Energy, even if they are forced into bankruptcy in the next year or two.
I don't like the low oil and gas prices, but sometime they will return to better prices and the royalties will pick back up. BTW, I am also the holder of new Linn Energy leases via ATU's from two years that because of the downturn, are not getting drilled, and new income streams therefore not being generated. That's a double whammy!
Thank you Lee.
We too have ATU's both old and new - that is good to know.
Thank you for the article reference as well.