Got a call yesterday about signing an agreement for an oil and gas pipeline eastment that will have 26.41 Rods (planning on asking for $600 per Rod) and a Surface Site of 75 ft X 75 ft. please see attachment.
Question: the guy i spoke with said there will be 2 pipelines one for oil and one for gas, should I increase the Rod price of $550 per Rod? or am i way off base
Question: How much should I ask for the 75 X 75 ft Surface Site?
I have already told him to include in the agreement that me and my wife will not be held responsible for and environmental damages from the pipeline or any injuries by their employees or sub-contractors, adhere to all local, state and federal environmental rules plus several other things.
It does appear that a survey company has been on my property without my permission.
Speaking from experience, don't ever try to do this by yourself. Get some expert help, even if it costs more than you get from the agreement. I suspect they are wanting a permanent right-of-way which means this piece of property is basically worthless to you from now own and these pipelines are going to affect the adjoining properties on both sides forever.
Does this land mean anything special to you, to your family? Are you living on it, growing crops on it, have livestock on it? Do you consider this land to be a valuable asset that you will want to leave to your heirs one day? If you can answer YES to any of these questions, then I suggest you call the local authorities (sheriff?) and report Black Gold Surveying & Engineering for trespassing then follow Bigfoot's advice, as noted below.
Thanks Bigfoot I have reached out to 2 attorney's and hope to meet with one of them on Friday. I just got a copy of the agreement this morning and will review with attorney.
Ms Malone this land has nothing but brush on it and I only use it to deer hunt but i do plan on leaving it to my kids. I will ask the attorney when we meet tomorrow.
Good luck on what ever you decide; but, remember a pipeline and it's Right of Way is one issue and I can guarantee you that it will come back to haunt you at some point, even if it is only when you want to build a fence and stick holes in the ground for posts; but, if they are planning to put above ground equipment on this 75 x 75 foot location, it really becomes an issue. Remember that most pipelines have "pigging" locations and if that happens to be on your place, then you will have frequent visitors.
Many of us could go on and on with this subject; but, one last tid bit that I would like to throw out here and that is that there are attorneys and then there are attorneys.
Make sure you visit with an O&G attorney who specializes in negotiating these types of agreements. There are many things to consider before signing a P/L "ROW/easement" agreement ... many! And, you won't be able to undo what you signed off on.
Also, make sure this O&G attorney dude knows the ins and out of such, or else you may be wasting your time and money. Ask many questions and "what ifs."
There may be no trespass. If your lands are within a pooled unit, the Operator has the right of ingress and egress. If you own no minerals, you would want to look at the governing lease form. If you own minerals, you would want to examine your lease form.
The price per rod is going to vary based on several items. First, do they have the right to be there anyway? Second, do they have condemnation rights? Third, what is the size of the lines? There are a lot of moving pieces in a situation such as this.
In my experience, most pipeline companies pay my transaction fee. See if they will agree to pay your lawyer fee.
Ms. Malone & Mr. Cotten: Thanks for the additional guidance. I will be meeting with the attorney on Monday he does specialize in Oil & Gas and has had dealings with Ironwood in past. When I initally spoke with Ironwood the gentleman asked me what dollar amount i was asking for the pipeline and the surface site (kind of caught me off guard) which is why is started this discussion, he did say the pipeline would be 6 or 8 in pipe which is not annotated on the agreement. I do own 25% of the minerals on my 22 acres. I have looked at the checklist someone posted on this forum a couple of years back that has good question for me to bring up to the attorney.