Oil and gas leases

My lease along the ND border, Range 59E ran out in June and Marathon did not pick it up and no one has inquired about it at all. Activity is slow. All I see is water trucks going by my house into Williams County.

Joy:

I also have minerals in the area (T31N;R59E;Section 31). Marathon has my lease and it will expire in December 2013. They also have a drilling permit for my area and an active well on the spacing unit beside the area. I called Marathon's office in Houston and was told that they had no intention of negotiating a new lease. I have heard that Marathon is in the process of selling their mineral areas and believe that this the main factor in their decision. Further, I think that one operator will eventually surface in these areas as it begins to see further development. All I can do is wait until new offers surface.

http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/741161399.shtml

This article is about Sheriday Co, MT. It is dated August 11, 2013. Still, there is lots of interesting information in it. Pretty encouraging overall I thought.

is Sheridan County in Three Forks or Northwest Transitional Continuous Oil AU or Both?

It seems to me both reading the 2013 USGS Assesment

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2013/3013/fs2013-3013.pdf

In that case it seems a very good thing.

Anyone care to weigh in?

I am in T35-R52