My family has mineral rights in Bakken where there has been a lot of well operations for some time now. We are having a hard time getting the oil company to provide us with information about the wells that are on our mineral right lands. We have asked for information as to the amount of oil which has been pumped from these wells, where the proceeds are being held in escrow and if there has been any monies paid out to anyone from the escrow acct.
We had to go through the court system to have the hiership made right. And when we did that, one of the family members was the go between with us and the attorney office. However, since that time, the family member who was the go between now is the only family member that oilmen and oilwomen have been contacting regarding future drilling. There are seven members of my family involved with the mineral rights and we all are capable of doing our own representation with the oil people.
The land in question has had wells on it for some time now and we inherited the mineral rights along with other family members. There are several sections on land involved and I would believe plenty of proceeds to go around. However, getting information from other family members is like pulling teeth which only causes more concern regarding the mineral rights of all the family members who are entitled.
I have to ask if anyone has an opinion as to how we can get the oil company to answer our requests? It seemed that once they had our signatures on the agreement, they have chosen not to respond to our requests anymore! This can be very frustrating and does cause one to start to wonder what is going on. Also, I would just as soon do my own negotiating with the oil company and am wondering how I can start getting the calls from the oilmen and women?
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.