Permit for Geophysical Operations

Oil and Gas Leasing Help
1

I am the trustee of a Family trust which includes mineral interests in McClain County OK. Recently, I received a request to sign a permit for geophysical operations. I sent it to the OK lawyer who handled the Affidavit of Heirship and he said " do not to sign it; you do not own the land." I was told by the company that they know I don't; the permit I received was intended just for mineral interest holders. Here are my questions. Thank you for any help you can offer.

Can the survey be done without the express permission of all mineral interest owners?

If oil/gas is found in the area, will a lease be offered to all interest owners even if they did not sign the permit?

Currently all the interests my uncle owned that I am aware of are leased; is it likely then that there are more interests that I am not aware of?

If it means there may be interests not under a lease at this time, how would I go about finding them so they can be properly deeded over to the trust?

Is the seismic - Mirage 3D - an operation requested by an oil/gas company who then may contact me with a proposed lease agreement, or is it a study done by an independent company with no connection to any specific oil/gas company?


If I do not sign the permit, have I by default eliminated the possibility of being offered a lease for my mineral interests in this location?

Do I get a copy of the results of the Geophysical Operations if I do sign?

Are the results of such surveys public information?

Do the land surface owners have to agree to the Geophysical Operations before requests can be sent to those who only own mineral interests?

Why do they even need the agreement of people who do not own the land?

Thank you for any information that will help me understand this process.

Ellie

2

I think a search of the forum would answer all questions. If you have leased, you have probably already given permission for the exploration to be done. The surface owner needs to negotiate damages.

The seismic could be at the behest of an operator or a shoot on speculation, if speculation, I go against the pros and would say no, probably wouldn't stop the shoot anyway. You never want to enter a contract where there is no money money coming your way, period, anything, including a cellphone contract. My signature is worth a certain amount on ANY contract. I learned this the hard way.

Should you sign, you should at least get legal fees for the advice you need, like the permit is not exclusive, revocable and term limited to 1 year, that you will be held harmless and they agree to forever defend.

No, the information will not be made commonly known, it will either belong to whoever commissioned the shoot or the company making the shoot and you will not see the results.

If you, and your attorney could negotiate the results, unlikely, you would become responsible for the security of that information that could be worth millions of dollars and liable for damages to the party comissioning the shoot should the information get out. Do you really want the results? See above about not signing contracts for no money, legal fees and your signature being worth a certain amount on any contract or don't sign.

3



r w kennedy said:

I think a search of the forum would answer all questions. If you have leased, you have probably already given permission for the exploration to be done. The surface owner needs to negotiate damages.

The seismic could be at the behest of an operator or a shoot on speculation, if speculation, I go against the pros and would say no, probably wouldn't stop the shoot anyway. You never want to enter a contract where there is no money money coming your way, period, anything, including a cellphone contract. My signature is worth a certain amount on ANY contract. I learned this the hard way.

Should you sign, you should at least get legal fees for the advice you need, like the permit is not exclusive, revocable and term limited to 1 year, that you will be held harmless and they agree to forever defend.

No, the information will not be made commonly known, it will either belong to whoever commissioned the shoot or the company making the shoot and you will not see the results.

If you, and your attorney could negotiate the results, unlikely, you would become responsible for the security of that information that could be worth millions of dollars and liable for damages to the party comissioning the shoot should the information get out. Do you really want the results? See above about not signing contracts for no money, legal fees and your signature being worth a certain amount on any contract or don't sign.

4

Thank you for your response to my questions. I just discovered/joined the forum yesterday and already it has been very helpful.