No Contact after Signing Lease Agreement

[perdurabo]

I have mineral rights in Gaines co Texas for Section 28, Block G, below 3560’. In 2019, Prestige Exploration approached us with a lease agreement for 3 years with a 2 year renewal. They would not say who their client was but we assume its Oneok since they own the surface and all the other leases in the section. After having a lawyer review it we signed the lease and were given our paid up lease amount for the three year lease period. Its almost 2022 and we have heard absolutely nothing from Prestige or their supposed client about whether any production has begin or whether they intend to renew again in 2022. The representative from Prestige told me they cannot give us any more information about their client but that I can look up activity on our section on the Railroad Commission’s GIS site, but that’s even more unhelpful. The GIS map only shows one well on the section thats deeper than 3560’ and it’s been shut in since at least 2009. So I assume there’s no activity there but I have no way to verify that and I have no way to know who to contact about their intentions on extending the lease.

Is there a process by which I can determine who indeed Prestige’s client was and to contact them about their intentions for the lease, or are lessors stuck in a completely passive waiting role with no way to make inquiry until we are approached by the lessee? That seems a bit one sided, but then again, there’s a lot about the oil and gas business that’s intentionally one sided I’m gathering.

[ABond]

You can try running a Grantor search in the Gaines County records to see who Prestige assigned your lease to. Once you have that name, run another Grantor search to see if the Assignee has sold the lease since obtaining it from Prestige. If they haven’t sold it, you know who at least owns your lease.

[Dusty1]

From RRC’s map it looks like Oneok has a number of injections wells in Sec. 28 that are part of a gas storage operation originally started by American Gas Storage. No drilling permits are shown.

Checking the Gaines County deed records on TexasFile.com shows Prestige Exploration recorded a bunch of memorandums of lease in Blocks G, C-32 and 33 from September, 2019 until April, 2020. No assignments or other documents indicating activity by Prestige have been recorded since then.

You might try posting your question in the Gaines County section of the forum using the Counties heading at the top of this page. It looks like there was considerable discussion about Prestige in years past and someone there might have an idea what’s happening.