I recently received a lease offer on a small plot of land in Williston, ND for the purpose of drilling. I realize that I’m under no obligation to accept the lease, but I don’t know if not accepting their terms has any other ramifacations, such as legalities. My thoughts are that there is some way to attract other potential offers, I’m just not sure how to proceed. I would like to incorporate and find financing for the purpose of initial activities involving marketing my own lease and getting a good company on the land who will do things correctly as they bring the job to production status. Does anyone know anything about this type of thing? Every little bit helps!
Dear Mr. Upmeyer,
Just how small a plot of land do you own that you want to independently market?
Hi, Buddy, Thanks for the reply. It is very small, 2.31 acres, with a collective acreage of 13. 83 ac. By collective, I mean, there are other mineral owners involved. At this point, I am the only one to be contacted with a lease offer. It’s not much, but it is sitting pretty near dead center of the Bakken. Do you think I can market my own lease?
Buddy Cotten said:
Dear Mr. Upmeyer,
Just how small a plot of land do you own that you want to independently market?
Buddy Cotten
www.cottenoilproperties.com
Dear Mr. Upmeyer,
In my experience, this would be extremely difficult to market. First, you do not have enough interest or acreage in which to drill a well. The only persons who would be likely interested would be those who wanted to purchase a small interest in the hopes of getting in a well. In North Dakota, I have no idea of any force pooling statues that may come into play.
I would not think that there would be a lot of money to lose if you did nothing and hoped for a larger payday down the road. However, with less than 3 acres, it would just not be that large a payday no matter what.
From a practical standpoint, if the landmen are chasing down interests as modest as yours, I would speculate that drilling is not far behind.
Thank you, Buddy. I pretty much thought the same about the acreage. I am trying now to contact the other mineral owners and see if they would like to do a lease on the entire 13.83 acres that will cover everybody. I don’t actually live in N.D., so I don’t have the luxury of going to the courthouse to look at records. I have checked on the county website, but the records I need are archived. I do have their names, so I am looking for contact information on them. Do you think it is worth the effort to bring everybody together in order to show more acreage? Again, Thank you very much for the input. Raymond Upmeyer Buddy Cotten said:
Dear Mr. Upmeyer,
In my experience, this would be extremely difficult to market. First, you do not have enough interest or acreage in which to drill a well. The only persons who would be likely interested would be those who wanted to purchase a small interest in the hopes of getting in a well. In North Dakota, I have no idea of any force pooling statues that may come into play.
I would not think that there would be a lot of money to lose if you did nothing and hoped for a larger payday down the road. However, with less than 3 acres, it would just not be that large a payday no matter what.
From a practical standpoint, if the landmen are chasing down interests as modest as yours, I would speculate that drilling is not far behind.
Best wishes,
Buddy Cotten
www.cottenoilproperties.com