Mineral Questions after mothers passing

Hello my mother recently passed away and we found out we have mineral rights in Section 33 Township 2N Range2w

Looking through her things it appears they signed a 3 year lease at one point, but also found some on pooling. I am trying to figure out if there is any kind of back payment for drilling on the land. I do not think they understood how all of this worked. I would appreciate any help you can provide me and my family. We also found out the property is unclaimed but is under my great-grandmothers name

Condolences on the passing of your mother. You will need to get the title passed to the proper heirs. If there are wills, they will need to be probated. Several generations can be done at one time. If no wills, then the laws of intestate will apply by state.

Not sure how far back in time you are hunting, but there have been five wells drilled in the section. Two back in 1950’s, Two in 2011 and one in 2009. Two of those may still be in production. Whether or not you are owed royalties will depend upon the location of your acres and it is overlaps with the spacings of the reservoirs of those wells. There have been plans to drill horizontal wells in the section, but no fruition yet. Gives you time to get the affairs in order first.

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Thank you very much! We are currently working on getting all those affairs in order. This is the full legal description NW/4SW/4SE/4&NW/4SE/4SE/4 SECTION 33 TOWNSHIP2N RANGE2W. I have found many documents with various case numbers. Is there a way to see what names the wells have been listed under… The two I have found our WOODFORD & HUNTON.

We also located that it is listed under unclaimed property under my great grandmothers name. I was able to see a decent amount of money in an escrow account. can you explain what that is… Sadly I do not think any of the family knew what they were doing with any of this… I started searching and cannot stop now . I have quite a few case numbers as well. I appreciate any help you can give me.

NW/4 SW/4 SE/4 & NW/4 SE/4 SE/4 SECTION 33 TOWNSHIP2N RANGE2W.

Here are the well locations. image Here is the list of wells

Look here for the wells. See the link at the top.

The Elmore SWD is a salt water disposal well which can be an indicator of future horizontal activity coming.
The Tadlock has an 80 acre spacing. It is in the SW4, so may not belong to you since you are in the SE4. The Harwell has a 160 acre spacing but is in the NW4. Some of the older wells may have the royalties. You will have to get clear title and then the state will release them to the proper heirs.

You read the descriptions from right to left. So you are in 33-2N-2W. Then you read the next set. SE4 has 160 acres, then the SE4 of that cuts it down to 40 acres and then the NW4 would be 10 acres. Same thing for the other part. Here is a picture. image

Thank you so much for all of this information. Some of the documents we have list the well names as hunton and woodford… Do the company’s change the well names? Just curious as I did not see some of the names listed with the wells.

Thank you very much

Sometimes a company will have a tentative well name before they drill it and may change once they have the actual permit. What names are you seeing in the documents? If they do not match the list above, am I looking in the wrong section? What case numbers are at the top of the documents?

Okay I see… Here is some info I have been able to locate. Well Names (From Paperwork Found) Woodford- 640 Acre Horizontal Order Number 658939 Hunton - 640 Acre Horizontal Oder Number 658939

Here is some other information I retrieved Cause CD#201600010

When searching the treasures page for unclaimed land we were able to locate it under my great grandmothers name. It acted like it is unclaimed… what exactly Does that mean? Just unable to locate any heirs? I really think none of the family was familiar with any of this. I really appreciate your help with this!!! I will keep looking for any other case numbers I can find.

Here is the link to the OCC cases:

https://imaging.occ.ok.gov/imaging/OAP.aspx Type in that case number in the Case # box and CD in Case Type. Then you can read all the events that happened. The exhibits are useful. The one that ends in 298 shows where that well was planned on the west side Tadlock 1-33-28H. Apparently another one was planned on the east side of the section. Arvin 1-04-33H. Exhibit 30060297 show another potential shorter well. 293 shows the fault. It looks like they got everything approved in late 2019 and Covid hit in 2020, so not drilled yet.

You could contact the attorney for RimRock Resources and see if they can help you figure out what title documents you will need. Use the name and address on the lease that you have.

Unclaimed means that some company has royalties sitting at the Treasurer’s office since they could not find a correct address to send them to.

RIMROCK RESOURCE PARTNERS, L.L.C. 20 EAST 5TH STREET, SUITE 1300 TULSA, OK 74103 Contact Name: GRAYSON BARNES Contact Phone: 918-382-8686

Thank you so much for all of your information!!!
It appears they signed a 3 year lease at one point. Does that continue after the 3 years? or does it expire?

Is it okay to reach out to them without an attorney or should we wait?

Thank you again so much I really appreciate it

The references to Woodford and Hunton are names of geologic formations that wells may penetrate and produce from, not well names.

Todd, Thank you so much for that clarification! I was so confused

The lease will be for three years and will not continue if there is no drilling or drilling and no production within the three years. If there is drilling and the well is converted to production, then the lease will move into what is called a “secondary” term and will continue to be in effect as long as the terms of the lease are met.

Go ahead and reach out to RimRock and see if they are holding any bonus or pooling funds or any past royalties. The number given above is the attorney that represents RimRock on the cases. You can find the RimRock number for the title questions and royalty questions on their website. You probably need the OKC office. Contact Us - Rimrock Energy Partners. They can at least walk you through the issues. You want the Division Order analyst for 33-2N-2W.

Okay I was hoping I understood that correctly thank you for verifying!

Also would any past royalties be with RimRock now? Or is it possible I would also need to contact Triad as they were also listed at one point?

Contact Triad as well. I do not see that RimRock drilled the horizontal well.

Okay perfect and were the wells you sent the other day the only ones for our area or could there be more? Just trying to see how far back I should try to go lol

One of the things that you will likely encounter from the company and unclaimed property is a request for a probate. It may just involve your mother’s estate but it is possible that multiple estates must be probated. Often these can be handled with simplified probate cases. The question to ask is “what is required to get the minerals into pay status”. They will generally provide a requirement from a division order analyst outlining what is needed.

Okay I found another Legal description. Wasn’t sure if this is the same thing …

S33 T2N R2W NW SW SE S33 T2N R2W NW SE SE

S33 T2N R2W NW SW SE is the red box on the left. The SE4 is the red dashed line. The lower left blue box is the SW quarter of the SE4. The red box is the NW quarter of the SW quarter.

S33 T2N R2W NW SE SE is the red box on the right. Same idea but slightly different description. This is the same acreage as described earlier in the thread.
image

After doing some more research I found a document with the decimal interest signed division order. After doing some more research it appears not only was the decimal interest not correct so was the mineral acres. I’ve seen once this is signed it protects the oil company. The lease was a 3 year with no bonus and 5 percent mineral rights percent. My question is after the 3 years if they were getting oil from it and they didn’t sign another one what happens? Or do we have a case to fight on the wrong interest and mineral acres.

Also any recommendations on attorneys in the garvin county area?

Thanks.

Division orders can be changed if there is enough proof to do so.
I am not understanding the 5% mineral rights interest comment. Was that on the division order? Most leases have a minimum of 1/8th interest which is 12.5%. Need a bit more clarity there.

If there was a producing well drilled during the lease time frame and the title was clear, then the royalties were owed. The lease moves into the secondary term until the production ceases under the terms of the lease.