Prior to 1940, my grandfather obtained certain mineral rights in South Texas and then sold the gas rights but retained the oil rights. In the deed from my grandfater the deed states,
"It is distinctly understood and agreed that no interest in oil or oil royalty is conveyed by Grantors to Grantee under this conveyance, and for purposes of this conveyance, oil shall be considered to be any liquid hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, capable of being produced form said premises at the well in liquid form by ordinary production methods which are not the result of condensation of gas after it leaves the reservoir."
My sibblings and I inherited these assets in 2001 and many of the files contained division orders from the 1950's and 1960's, many of which were no longer producing.
The applicable Estates were probated, ceritified copies of the Last Will and Testaments were filed in the applicable counties. As checks were received, Oil companies were notified of the deaths and provided documentation so as to appropriately transfer the interests.
Pennzoil provided a division order covering four wells. One of the wells had a name for which another oil company was paying and I assumed that the others were of little consequence and were likely exhausted.
Late last year I was provided with a tax assessment for an interest in a well for my grandmother (she inherited all from my granfather). The taxing district stated that it was too late to adjust the bill, the oil company, Devon, informed me that they were selling many wells to Linn Operating and as such I needed to reach out to Linn.
This year the tax office notified me that our ownership had been deleted so I started digging. Linn provided a nine page list of wells they acquired from Devon and on that list were wells similarly named to ones on the Division Order from Pennzoil in 1996. I made Linn aware of the deed whereby the oil was retained but the gas was sold and they have indicated that they are researching the issue "in the order in which it was received."
Meanwhile the tax assessor is also researching the lands described in the deed to determine which wells are on or pooled with these ten tracts.
What additional steps should I take at this time? Should I reach out to Devon now or wait until I hear back from Linn and the Tas office? If I should reach out to Devon now, to whom should I address my letter?
thanks in advance for your thoughts.