I imagine that the company is seeking a “surface waiver”. This is going to be an oversimplification. For background, the mineral estate is considered to be the dominant estate and the surface estate to be the servient estate. Thus if the minerals are severed from the surface, oil and gas exploration can still occur even over the objection of the surface owner. If the surface owner wants to sign a solar lease, then the solar company has significant risk in the event that their solar array is the location chosen to drill the well. Therefore, in addition to obtaining a lease from the surface owner, the company will also seek “surface waivers” from the mineral owners. This can greatly reduce the area that a later oil company can explore and may even cause a mineral owner’s asset to become virtually worthless. Some mineral owners seek to minimize the the devaluation by limiting the area that would be subject to the “surface waiver” and thereby reserving a significant area as a set aside that could be used by oil companies to explore & develop.
Review and negotiating a “surface waiver” for a mineral owner is not cheap. Among the things to be considered is past and present production. It is also good to know about O&G development nearby.
This post is not legal, investment or tax advice, it is for discussion purposes only. Reading or responding to this post does not create an attorney-client relationship.