I happened upon this lease through delinquent tax records I discovered for deceased ancestors for tax years after they died. Which prompted me to start digging. Father is an NPRI owner in a well in Tx. (Older w/ memory issues) Production began in 2006. Father is good about keeping all letters and notes. I found I his files, correspondence from a Devon Energy independent land man dated 2011 asking for documents on deceased, AOH requests, family history etc . I found record of his compliance and follow through with requests. Land man stated he would forward to the div. Order dept . 2013 additional correspondence from same land man requesting the same info. No additional correspondence after that date. I called a Relative …also an NPRI Owner , she had the same requests , same land man and timeframe. Due to misunderstandings of chain of owner procedures and both being elderly , they did not follow up.
Discovered royalty pmts in deceased owners names. ( Deceased at the time of drilling) NPRI owners also signed ratifications, that were never filed. There are royalty payments in those ancestors names escheated to OK. However Devon will not reveal the amounts or years escheated. I want to be able to do a checks n balances against the comptroller s reports for those years.
QUESTION: the lease company, Devon, has not been cooperative in releasing any accounting information for the funds escheated. Once I submit the required documents for ownership chain , a power of attorney from the current owners who are my relatives. Is the lease company obligated to produce their accounting records upon request? The well was plugged in 2015. We admit to being at fault for lack of follow through to ensure the docs were all received but Devon did not contact us for 4 years after the production started and did not follow through with division orders or ratification contract submission we provided. My apologies for the length of this msg. Thank you in advance.