Based on the online Eagle Ford Shale maps, my 1 acre in De Witt County may be in the oil corridor. Several wells have been drilled (and are drilling now) within 2 miles of me in the past 3 months. My neighbors have leased their minerals, but no one has contacted me about my property. My deed says nothing about my not owning the minerals, so I assumed they were included when I bought the property. I have 2 quetions: How do I confirm I own the minerals and do I need to contact local operators about leasing my minerals, or will a landman contact me eventually when they get around to drilling a well nearby? Thanks, George.
George:
From what information you have provided, I will hazard to guess that the minerals was not included in your property ownership. If you will go to the County Clerk office in the county where your property is located, records will indicate the owner on record. When you purchased the property, did the paperwork state the minerals would be part of this sale?
When all of this activity started about 2 years ago, we assumed for some reason that we didn't own the minerals. In a conversation a month or so ago with the prior owner, he said, "No, I didn't withold the minerals. Check the contract." We did and came to the conclusion that we should own them. I.e., there was no mention whatsoever of them not being included. I guess its possible the prior owner never owned them, but this is doubtful, as he owns the surrounding acreage.
George:
A characteristic in minerals is they often remain with the same owners several generations ago. As I said earlier, you will have to research the matter in order to get to find out if you or someone else hold these minerals. It would be worth your time as Eagle Ford Shale is a very good play.
George Turk said:
When all of this activity started about 2 years ago, we assumed for some reason that we didn't own the minerals. In a conversation a month or so ago with the prior owner, he said, "No, I didn't withold the minerals. Check the contract." We did and came to the conclusion that we should own them. I.e., there was no mention whatsoever of them not being included. I guess its possible the prior owner never owned them, but this is doubtful, as he owns the surrounding acreage.
George, If you spend a bit of time at the County Clerks office there in DeWitt Co you should be able to follow the trail backwards from your own possession of the surface property back through any previous transfers of ownership.
You will need to track your property to see if any of those prior owners had expressly reserved all or a portion of the mineral rights to the property in any of those deeds.
If no prior mineral reservations are found in any of those transactions, then the mineral rights would have then transferred along to you upon your purchase of the property.
Best of luck to you.
FYI, the De Witt County Clerk could not give us an answer. They sent us to the Title Company, which after some searching, declared that they could not prove we owned them, but due to the lack of other evidence, said we probably did.
DJG said:
George, If you spend a bit of time at the County Clerks office there in DeWitt Co you should be able to follow the trail backwards from your own possession of the surface property back through any previous transfers of ownership.
You will need to track your property to see if any of those prior owners had expressly reserved all or a portion of the mineral rights to the property in any of those deeds.
If no prior mineral reservations are found in any of those transactions, then the mineral rights would have then transferred along to you upon your purchase of the property.
Best of luck to you.