Newly discovered mineral rights

Oklahoma Mineral Rights Roger Mills County, OK
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I have just been made aware of mineral rights through an offer to lease from OGI Minerals. I have done the research and its appears there was once a well that was temporarily abandoned and capped in 2005.

I have read through the posts and see that there is quite a lot going on in Roger Mills County at the moment. I have emailed the county clerk requesting forms to file to Affidavit of Surviving Joint Tenant. What should I be doing next?

OGI Minerals is offering 3/16th’s royalty, which is the same royalty amount that it was leased for from 1980-1988 by Exxon. Seems 40 years later the royalty amounts should be higher, no? Or is there typically no wiggle room for negotiations in the royalties offered? Thanks!!

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Typically a County Clerk will not provide any legal advice or forms. In many States they are legally precluded from any such actions. When you file the Affidavit, make sure to attach a certified copy of the death certificate of the joint tenant.

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Other counties have their forms freely available on their websites, but its appears Roger Mills is too small a county to offer that. Any advice on how to obtain the form if they are unwilling to provide it?

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Have OGI prepare the Affidavit for you since you are leasing with them, they should be more than willing to help since its a very easy doccument for a company like them to prepare

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List your properties section township and range.

That may help with comparable offers and leases in your area. You don’t have to list the signing bonus offers per royalty; e.g., $500/nma @ 3/16 royalty, of $200/nma @ 1/5 royalty, but it is helpful. As an example as to why it helps; in section 26-13N-24W I signed a lease over a year ago @ 1/4 royalty with $1500 bonus per NMA(net mineral acre), with an extensive exhibit A full of clauses protecting my interests, most importantly a very good Mittelstaedt Market Enhancement Clause. A lot to learn, which is why it is strongly recommended to involve an Oklahoma Oil and Gas Attorney. The lease you’re being offered is not usually written with the best interest of the mineral owner in mind. Many clauses should be added to protect your interests, and get you sometimes significantly more money.

I’m relatively new to this so even i have a lot to learn, and probably could have negotiated my lease better or waited for the “pooling” order to get the best terms.

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Great suggestion Bob.

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Very good info, thank you! Do you have a lawyer you used that you could recommend?

Its 35 12N 26W. I initially completely shot down the call from OGI Minerals because I had no knowledge of the mineral rights and thought it was yet another scammer. I have since responded only via text to keep a paper trail and they’re being very vague. I read through lots of posts and have read that they want you to do all the legwork for them. Their offer is $1000 per acre @3/16th royalty.

I actually did get the affidavit form back from the county clerk shortly after posting this, so theres that.

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I do not personally have an attorney to recommend. I spent countless hours researching, asking questions on this forum, and negotiating with landmen; to get what I felt was a really good Exhibit A in my lease. If I were to do it all again I would have hired an attorney, and still will if another property gets lease offers. Confident enough in my decision, but would have extra piece of mind if I had hired a professional.

Do you have any idea of how much mineral acreage you own that OGI is trying to lease? Many companies run preliminary title work so they know what you have but often don’t like to disclose it until the later parts of negotiating. It’s good to know because mineral acres have been split/broken up so many times over generations where most people may not even have an acre. If that’s the case waiting for the “pooling order” is probably the way to go. Paying for a lawyer isn’t very cost beneficial once you get into fractions of acres. If you don’t know much about “pooling” yet, search it in the forum here and you’ll get a pretty good grasp quickly.

It sounds like you have already figured it out, but don’t sign anything. Some companies want you to sign “Letters of Intent,” don’t do it. No need to rush. Learn as much as you want to, because there’s so much to learn. Never take first offers, wait to see if competition comes up.

I took a look in the Oklahoma County Records and no real O&G leasing of note has been recorded since 2011 for Roger Mills section 35 12N 26W.

https://okcountyrecords.com/results/section=35:township=12N:range=26W:site=roger+mills/page-1

If companies are working your way this is just the beginning of the process so best to sit tight and wait. Probably the only advantage to signing a lease now would be to get the signing bonus money and hope they don’t drill within the primary term(usually 3 years to commence, fyi never let them add a secondary term option), then hopefully the area still has interest and you negotiate a better lease after the primary term has passed. But that is a risk because if they do drill and you couldn’t negotiate a 1/4 royalty or at least 1/5, you’ll be stuck at 3/16. A higher royalty payout over time should be much better than any bonus money at a lower royalty you took on the front end.

Of note your property is six miles southwest of one of the current best oil producing wells in the state

Greatest Show On Earth #1-11-2XH

over 200,000 bbls of oil in less than a year.

From what I’ve been told six miles is reasonably far in the O&G business as far as predicting production, but it shows you might be in the wheelhouse.

If all your documents are filed and up to date at the clerks office, they’ll find you when things really start heating up.

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The closest leasing to you is by Continental in sec 1-11N-26W. Currently filed leases are at 3/16ths, but ones a bit farther away have 1/5th, so I always ask for higher royalties to see what the agent says.

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If there is a deed that named you as a joint tenant with rights of survivorship, then filing the proper affidavit with an official death certificate works. However, if you an heir inheriting the property, then this is likely the incorrect form. Unless this was in a trust, you will likely need a probate to clear title. If there is no current production, then an affidavit of heirship may be called for. in this situation.

Notice: Informational only. No attorney-client relationship is formed by this post. I am an Oklahoma-licensed attorney, but this is not legal advice. Do not share confidential facts in this public space.

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You are a treasure trove of information, thank you! I feel like I want to negotiate on my own without the use of a lawyer as well. I’ve already dug so deep into everything that I’m invested now and dont really want to hand over the reigns to someone else, but it’s definitely not off the table.

I don’t want to post the exact description because some of these groups have made me paranoid, LOL, but it’s 1/2 of a 1/4, so my understanding is it’s 80 acres. I have the original deeds and leases from the 80s and none of them list the mineral acres, so I don’t have anything with exact acreage amount specifically documented. But, it’s a uniformly structured area without creeks passing through the area, so the description lends toward 80 acres. I questioned the guy who text how many acres he was interested in and he couldn’t give me a number. Again, very vague. Said if I did own any in that area he’d be interested.

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If you really have 80 acres, then without a doubt you should get an attorney. Hopefully you have that, but likely you have read references to the size of the tract to which your owned acreage is spaced into. This is called “gross” acreage. Your “net” acreage is amount of those 80 acres you own, which is commonly a fraction of that, and not easily described anywhere.

Example:

One of the properties I own, legal description from Oklahoma Decree

“An undivided interest in the oil, gas, and other minerals in and under the SE 1/4 of Section 33, Township 13 North, Range 24 West, Roger Mills County, Oklahoma”

I own 13.33333 acres, not that description off a 640 acre section, as that description places my 13.3 acres in a 160 acre tract.

Hopefully you have the whole 80, but many people think that on this forum and find out it is often significantly less. It’s still confusing to me, and I’m trying to explain it so I can learn it as well. But, I thought I should mention it so you’re not blindsided by it later.

If you have any other properties, one with a well/production where you’re receiving royalty checks, and you know your royalty % agreed to in the lease; you can figure out your acres by taking your net revenue interest decimal listed on the royalty statement(NRI), divide that by royalty percentage, then multiply by spacing size of well.

NRI = 0.00195312

Royalty % = 3/16 or .1875

Well Spacing = 640 acres

Total acres owned = 6.66666667 acres

This is not warranted title by any means but it can be helpful for getting an understanding.

Apologies for being wordy, hopefully it is useful, and why knowing your actual owned acreage can play a role in getting a lawyer involved. 80 acres in a 1280 acre 2-mile horizontal spaced well is owning 1/16 of the minerals in that well. That would be awesome.

If anyone on the forum read all that and knows the math way better, please correct me if I’m wrong. Or let me know If it is correct:)

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Where and how do I find the actual acreage owned? I have two transfers of mineral deeds passed down from several generations ago and the only description is half of a quarter. Also, the O&G lease from the 80s only ever describes it as such. I’ll post a screenshot of one of the documents. Seems I’m being a little too paranoid given you’ve shared all sorts of your land descriptions.

Screenshot_20260507_072312_M365 Copilot
Screenshot_20260507_072312_M365 Copilot2992×444 166 KB

I’ve searched all the names involved on okcountyrecords and cant find anything else. All parties that knew about this have since passed on. Of note, the original mineral deed owner was from Maryland, would I need to search records there perhaps?

Thanks so much for all your help!

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Leases often describe the gross tract acreage, not the net acreage. A title chain would have to be done to determine the fractionation through the generations. The agent or the operator will run a title chain to determine your amount. HIghly likely that you have less than the 80 acres if there have been multiple generations with multiple children. Even small acreage can make money with good horizontal wells.

Leasing is just moving into 12N-26W, so I tend to hold back a bit until I see what others are getting. The closest leases to you are in sec 1-11N-26W. They are at 3/16ths, but a few leases to the west have higher royalties. Always ask for their quotes at 1/5th and 1/4 to see what they say.

Getting a good oil and gas attorney to look over a draft lease is wise. The drafts are in the operator’s favor and need significant edits to get more fair to the mineral owner, especially with respect to no post production charges which will significantly diminish your royalties. If an attorney is not feasible, then waiting for force pooling is another alternative.

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Warranty of Title is something totally different.

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James, I should have stated it as, not “proof of title,” but amount of acres documented in a specific well.

Piper, James_Garner1 and M_Barnes are both vastly knowedgable forum members. The value of their contributions on this forum has definitely shaped my understanding of mineral management.

Thanks to both of you:)