How and where can I learn the ownership of Mineral Rights within Section: 1; Township: 162; Range: 92; County: Burke; State: ND.
I've referenced NDRIN multiple times to no avail...
Is there another Web Site that I can reference that will tell the this answer???
Thank You in advance for any assistance that you can offer.
Respectfully
Pamela F Peterson
Pamela:
I'm not aware of a website that you could access for this information. You could research records at the County Clerks office.
Ms. Peterson, if you can't find what you need from the NDRIN there is no substitute for inspectiong the documents at the county recorders office. That said, if you are looking for something within the last 20 years sometimes it's a matter of how you search. I usually ask for everything in a section and sift through everything, mortgages and release of mortgages, rights of way, probate recordings, statements of claim, leases old and new and in one instance, I even occasionally see notices of the surface owner trying to succeed to the mineral estate under them claiming the minerals as abandoned. I have had something I knew should be there from a previous search not show up, luckily I had downloaded it and a search by document number brought it up. If nothing had been done with the minerals for more than 20 years the NDRIN may be blind to them, this would mean that a statement of claim needs to be filed because no claim and no use equals abandonement. I don't know precisely what you are using for search parameters so it would be useless for me to suggest anything different that to pull up absolutely everything related to that section and keep an open mind. As far as I know, there is no law that says a lease must be recorded. You could find your legal description buried in an assignment of oil and gas lease between companies. Data retrieval can be difficult and can require you to be patient and very creative. I hope this helps.
Pamela,
Possible sources of land info include Agribank, Who has leased to PetroHint a few miles away (expired) . You can find out on line what they own in Section 1 if anything,and
TAQA NORTH USA LAND DEPARTMENT. TAQA operates the three wells currently active in the section. They are all Madison Formation wells (6000') and make a lot of water. NDIC may have the address of TAQA. All of the other wells in Section 1 are P and A.
If you think you have land in the west part of the Section, where there are no wells, you can wait for PetroHunt to find you or hire a contract land man to research the mineral ownership. The big guys probably have a deal in place with TAQA by now if they are interested. No Bakken permits in the vicinity that I could find. .