I am trying to figure out who to lease my minerals to. I was wondering if the major operators own upstream companies that they use to purchase/lease minerals. Is that a thing, or do independent upstream companies do this? I want to make sure I’m getting the best deal and I’m reaching out to everyone I can.
Some major operators have their own in-house land department but that is getting rare. Most of them hire land companies to do their leasing for them. Sometimes several land companies. Depending upon your area, the operator or agent is sometimes the best to work with and other times a third party leasing agent will give better terms. Either way, the operator must abide by the terms of the lease.
Thank you. Who do they use? Do they disclose that info or not?
You always have to ask and sometimes they will not tell you if they are doing a “stealth play”. That means they try to go in and lease at low amounts before anyone else gets in there.
Ohhhh that is smart. Thank you so much!