Most all companies and right of way agents (brokers) do not want to pay the surface owner enough money for the right of way. I was offered about $3,000 per acre for a pipeline easement across some of my property about 3 year’s ago. The route would cross a major timber company’s property. I called the company and they explained that they always got $10,000 to $13,000 per acre for the easement and they used their own contract or they did not sigh. I got paid the same as the timber company. Most permitting agents want to pay by the rod in Texas. I would suggest that a land owner sell the right of way by the acre and not by the rod! Also when you are leasing your minerals if you own the surface it would be a good idea to have the price you would be paid in the lease if possible. There’s a lot more to this that is too big to cover in this post!
Dear Mr. Stewart,
There are multitudes of things that should be addressed in a right of way agreement, no doubt. Single use, easement shrinking down to the width of the pipe after installation, not changing drainage patters, term limit with option to extend using CPI model, maintaing ROW, metering stations...the list just goes on and on.
I was contacted Friday, Dec. 23, by a landman for Oneok to get permission to survey for an upcoming pipeline. He said the new pipeline would be placed in the existing ROW but payments would be made for the new 16" pipeline and surface considerations. He said that Oneok was in a big hurry to get this done (probably a Landman ploy).
This is a north/south pipeline running through western Trinity and central Houston counties. I believe the project is referred to as Sterling III and runs from Medford, OK, to Mont Belvieu, TX.
Does anyone have any additional information on this? This is my first time attempt to negotiate a ROW and any help will be greatly appreciated. The current pipeline crosses two sections of my properties and covers approx 1600 lft.
Mr. Hord, I would recommend that you contact Buddy Cotton who is on this site. He made a comment on this thread above. He has a web site and has a pipeline easement agreement you can purchase as well as lease forms.
Pipelines as well as most any type of right of way is a "burden" on your land. It's total value of the entire tract will be less because of this. Be careful what you sign as you might regret it later.
See Superior Oil and Gas Lease Forms, this is Mr. Cotton's web site.
Don't hire local attorney's!
Dear Mr. Hord,
You may want to read this before considering a "free survey" over your lands.
http://www.mineralrightsforum.com/profiles/blogs/surface-access-fees
Thank you both for you words of wisdom. I will take them all into consideration. I've already signed the Survey Right Agreement so I guess I may have made my first (and hopefully last) mistake.
Thanks again.