Hello all,
I have been approached by an oil company asking to lease my land. The oil company has stated although my family has about 12 tracts, (300 acres), we only own a percentage of the mineral acres.
The land was passed down from my grandparents in St. Augustine, Texas. How can we determine if what the oil company says is true with regard to amount of net mineral acres my family owns?
Annette:
This net mineral acreage information should be recorded at the County Clerk's office in St. Augustine.
Do you have any of the documents (warranty deeds, mineral deeds, ect.) that have to do with the land in your possession? To track the Mineral estate of 12 separate tracts can be a rather lengthy process, especially if the minerals were ever severed. The county clerks can help you I'm sure, but it may be worth it to hire a landman or title company. If the O&G company wants your lease bad enough they may be able to provide you with the documents themselves, considering they have to pull all of the documents to file the lease anyway. That being said, there is a lot of work that goes in to the search and most O&G companies are not willing to give away their work for free.
I do have a warranty deed of gift, however, it does not mention anything about mineral acres but just a description of land. Would the mineral deed be separate from the warranty deed? If so, where can I get the mineral deed for a specific track of land?
A mineral deed would serve the purpose of severing the minerals from the surface, so yes it would be filed separately from the warranty deed of gift. Here is the tricky part, the minerals could be severed any time after the original tract of land was platted and sold. Meaning the minerals could have been reserved by the U.S. Government, OR when your family originally bought or received the land the previous owner reserved a fraction of the mineral estate, OR at some point in time your family could have sold off some of the mineral interest. To make a long story short, to be 100% sure you own the acreage they are saying you own, you would have to run title from the very beginning. This is always fun because more than likely the first deed for the property dates back to the 1800's and is written in cursive and is filed in the basement of your county's courthouse. I really would recommend asking the O&G company how they determined your interest. If they are making an offer they should be able to prove your mineral interest.