Hello!
My family owns mineral rights in Harrison County, West Virginia and we've been contacted by a landman who works for Antero Production and has told us that they are soon going to be drilling horizontally in an area that we own part of the mineral rights.
Since finding this out, we have been trying to educate ourselves on what to expect and on what pitfalls to avoid.
Everything that I've read says not to sign the first agreement. Okay. And that people can get up to 20-21% royalties and a bonus taboot!
Our landman has been helpful to us, but says that Antero Production will definitely not pay us a bonus and that 12.5% is the highest that we will be able to recieve in royalties.
Does anybody have any confirmed insight as to how accurate this information is?
Also, do we need to hire a mineral rights attorney? Or can we ask for the changes to the agreement ourselves?
And any suggestions on what to have included in the agreement would be appreciated.
And how to best set ourselves up tax wise!!
Thank you for your help!
Someone is telling you A huge lie. I have interest in Doddridge and just signed a lease for $2000.00 ac, and 16% royalty, (with Antero). So sit back, talk to other folks in your area, and re- negotiate. Also tell this particular landman to take a hike.
Thanks, Arnold, for the info!
The landman says he works for Antero, though. And I am located in Oklahoma. Nobody else has contacted me, so not sure what to do about telling "this particular" landman to take a hike.
Have you heard of others getting 16%? Or are you just a strong negotiator? ;-)
The landman might not work for Antero. If he could get a lease with low royalty and no bonus from you and he can then assign it to someone else for bonus $$$ and a higher royalty. Is your contact information current in Harrison county? If it isn't, maybe that is why only this guy found you.
No, it actually is not! I'm in the process of changing this, though. I believe him to be an employee of Antero. He sent a lease for me to sign, between myself and Antero!
r w kennedy said:
The landman might not work for Antero. If he could get a lease with low royalty and no bonus from you and he can then assign it to someone else for bonus $$$ and a higher royalty. Is your contact information current in Harrison county? If it isn't, maybe that is why only this guy found you.
If the lease has Antero printed on the top as lessee, then he works for Antero, but if not, he could work for anyone, including himself. Alease with no bonus would be cheap to take and fairly easy to weasle out of.
The lease does have Antero as the lesee. I'm not so much concerned about that really. Moreso about if I should accept the 12.5% and no bonus deal. The landman said that Waco Oil was one of the five entities who own the mineral rights and so there was not much wiggle room.
r w kennedy said:
If the lease has Antero printed on the top as lessee, then he works for Antero, but if not, he could work for anyone, including himself. Alease with no bonus would be cheap to take and fairly easy to weasle out of.
Ok, sounds like someone trying to make brownie points at the office. Maybe they have an incentive plan that someone gets 2 weeks in Hawaii with the lowest average royalty on the leases they get signed.
Susan, the first lease that I signed with Antero was in 2010, I didn't know any better and I signed for no bonus and 12-1/2 %. since then after talking with folks in my district in Doddridge and going to this website I have increasing asked for more, both bonus and %. If you can tell me what district in Harrison that you are in I might be able to give you names of folks in that area. Going to this website was your first step in getting to the right facts.
This website gives you permits issued for each county in WV.
http://downloads.wvgs.wvnet.edu/BatchInfo/doddridge/
i USE IT DAILY
Arnold
Thanks a lot for this, Arnold. I haven't seen it before. Extremely useful.
Thank you, Mr. Stuart!
So. Let me make sure I understand the best use for the permits that are issued link.
I would check it daily to make certain a company is not about to drill in on my mineral rights, without
me knowing about it?
I need to really learn how to read these!
Thank you so much for sharing this link! I'm gathering so much good info here!! ;-)
Oh! Arnold, you had asked what district we are in. We are in the "Tenmile District". Do you know anyone there?
Thanks, Arnold!!
S.
Arnold L Stuart said:
Susan, I have signed several leases in Doddridge County over the last 4 yrs and I have used several tools to find info on the leases that I have signed. I will start off with saying it is time consuming but what the heck I am retired and it give's me something to do. I will try to answer your questions as follow's> The lease that you have from Antero will have a map and partial referenced, the downloads (permits) will show you a map of the partial that is to be drilled, and on this map you will be able to find your MAP # AND PARTIAL, Providing the permit has been issued, another source to check on permits issued, is to go to the weekly reports published by the West Virginia Dept Of Environmental Protection. Okay, from here I use the permit to find names of land owner and those that have royalty interest, and get on the phone, talk to the people and gets tons of info, For example, the lease that I signed in 2010 mentioned above was permitted in April of 2013, drilled and fracked in Sept of 2013, how do I know this, by talking to one of the owners that has interest next to mine, and lives there. Like I said, it is time consuming but how else am I going to find the info, unless I wait until a check comes in, that may never happen.
Susan, In my opinion I would not sign that lease, as stated, get an attorney, or re-negotiate. I hope I have answered some of your questions and I am always here, if you have more questions.
P.S:I have been known to travel to Doddridge to get info.
Arnold
Here is the link for the West Virginia office of Oil and Gas. http://www.dep.wv.gov/oil-and-gas/Pages/default.aspx
It has several very useful sections including the Weekly Reports that Mr. Stuart mentioned. Look under General Information for the Weekly Reports.
If you go down to the Database and Map information you can do several different kinds of searches including limiting by county and operator and date. The more you look around the more you will know, and the more you know the better off you'll be when talking with any landman.
Arnold has given quite a lot of good information. Thanks again for it!
Susan, if you need an attorney I can recommend Kyle Nuttall who is a member of this forum. He lives in Buckhannon and is familiar with what is going on in the Northern West Virginia area. He has the added advantage of having worked as a landman for several years so knows how they operate.
Susan, on the lease that Antero sent, it will show names of landowners that boarders your plat, North, South, East & West, just more info that will help you when permit is issued. Is the lease in your name?? ( you said family), I can do a little research on my own, if you don't mind.
Arnold
I live in West Virginia and would advise you to get a mineral rights attorney to both review your offers and help negotiate. The lease can be written in such a way that the apparent royalty may end up being much lower. We used Larry W. George in Charleston, WV, who specializes in mineral rights, was one of the founders of the WV Land Owners Assn., and former director of WV DEP.
Good luck.