Long ago and faraway interests in NM/Lea wells

New Mexico Mineral Rights Lea County, NM
1

How do I know what’s really happening with the very small interests I have inherited? For instance, a couple of years ago I got a notice one site (Lea E-25-23S-36E) was shut down. In looking at the EMNRD, I find a letter that it was a regulator that shut it, plus the company, Vanguard, went bankrupt. How do I know if that’s permanent? Is this something I should somehow be keeping track of? Can it be reopened and become a producer without my knowing it? These leases are almost a century old; how long can they produce gas or oil? I could put together a real compendium of companies that have rights over the years. I trust them to let me know when something changes hands, but is that wise? How is a normal owner supposed to keep up with all this?

2

Welcome to the crowd! I am not an expert, but have also inherited some mineral interests about 100 years old as well near yours. In my case, the wells were quite shallow, and now with deeper drilling and horizontal drilling - there is oil again. I found that only you can keep track of activity, nobody else really cares. There are sites that report activity on a regular basis, but I think actually going there is probably the best way to insure you know what is happening.

3

Thanks for answering. These wells seem to be around 3500-3900’ deep. Is that shallow? And if they go deeper or horizontal, do they redrill in the exact same place as the old wells? And do I have ownership of the whole pad or what exactly. Can they redrill a few yards from the now producing well?

4

I hope someone that actually has more facts will answer you better better. Yes, that in my opinion is a fairly shallow well depth. One does not actually own a well or pad, you probably own mineral rights to a specified acreage, so where they drill is of no great importance to you, they might drill on a nearby lease and go horizontal to your lease area.

5

Thank you. This is like learning a foreign language.

6

Here are some useful websites for you.

New Mexico GIS ArcGIS Web Application

http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/ocd/

Also suggest reading the MINERAL HELP tab at the top of the forum.

7

Thank you for sending these.

8

Vivian, NM OIL BOY is on this forum and he is a wealth of information maybe he will see your comments and will reply I know he has helped me GOOD LUCK and speaking of LUCK GO COLTS. TIMMYD

9

Thanks for answering!