Just a note on our personal experience. The well my Dad is involved in went from permit on 12-31-12 to his first royalty check on 7-8-13 (the well is still on Confidential).
WHITING ;)
KJ, congratulations. I hope that check had at least a couple of months on it.
That is exceptional.
For comparison, EOG has yet to pay any royalty on a well spud 11-21-11 (first oil sold Feb 2012).
Nope, not title issues. Just that darn slow (and woefully understaffed?).
Yep RW 3 months and June not reported yet. EM that is BS, whatever happened to 150 days? Hope they are paying you interest.
KJ, the law says they owe interest after 150 days. However, they're not paying anything yet.
And you can bet they aren't going to pay interest and if they are understaffed, it's by their choosing and not yours. Why pay if there isn't any enforcement or penalty. A good lease clause will help; but, that doesn't seem to be a cure either.
Eastern MT said:
KJ, the law says they owe interest after 150 days. However, they're not paying anything yet.
Is this an issue with EOG? I hope not :-(
Yes the issue is with EOG on a Mountrail Co, ND well. The matter was recently transferred to yet another person there. I believe she is the fourth one handling this well. She informed me they'll finally get me paid with their Sept checks. I trust she will see it happens.
Since I've not been on the receiving end I can't guarantee how badly EOG is abusing this practice; however, it is mentioned on the MRF Eagle Ford blog quite frequently. I do have an elderly friend that started getting production way back in 2009 on one piece of property and then again in 2010 or 2011 on another piece of property and payment took about a year on each piece. I believe this is getting to be the "new way" for most of these companies, even if there is a lease clause that says differently. If you are expecting a royalty, I would suggest that you write a certified, return receipt demand letter as soon as possible after 60 or 90 days from when you first realize there is production. If their is a time period in your lease, it will probably be 90 days following the end of the month first production begins or is sold. At least something close to that. Even if a time period is in the lease, many leases still have a 15 or 30 day clause after the operator receives the letter.
Good luck!
private said:
Is this an issue with EOG? I hope not :-(
That is pretty impressive on a new well - I'm still getting division orders from an interest that I purchased last june - and all they had to do was transfer the interest to someone else on an already producing property. Not sure what part of that takes 14 months...