Before I state my facts and ask questions, let it be said that a drilling permit from the state has been approved.
My family is part of a 393 acre pooled tract in Brazos county. Our land is 97.2 acres as a part of this pooling. Our lease states that our property can be pooled up to 320 acres + or - 10% for oil.
Does the drilling company have the right to pool our acreage into a unit larger than written in the lease agreement?
How far from our property line may a well be drilled?(drill site is less than 467 feet from our property line) How far from a state hwy may a well be drilled?(480 to state hwy 47) How far from a previous well may a new drill site be established?(300 feet from previous Austin chalk well)
Some of the pooled lease land is under state hwy 47(which passes 15 or so yards west of our acreage
Expanding the lease pool is obviously shrinking our proration unit as a part of the pool. Can anything be done in accordance with our lease as it was written?
thanks,
Bill
Bill
Do you know if the well is classified as an oil well, or a gas well?
As far as the other questions are concerned, the distance to the highway is meaningless, and the distance to your property line shouldn't be an issue either, but that would ultimately be dependent on the location of your tract as to the boundaries of the unit.
Do you have the API # of the well?
The first place to look to answer your questions is your lease form itself. Without seeing your form, not all of your questions can be answered.
Check your pooling provision and see if it says words like "provided that should governmental authority having jurisdiction prescribe or permit the creation of units larger than those specified, for the drilling or operation of a well at a regular location or for obtaining maximum allowable from any well to be drilled, drilling or already drilled, units thereafter created may conform substantially in size with those prescribed or permitted by governmental regulations."
As to distance from your property line, that is not the determining factor. The determining factor is two-fold.
First is that how far away from the Unit line is the well located? An Unit allows the combining of lands so that the entire unit can be developed as one property.
Second is if the location is not a regular location, has a Rule 37 exemption been granted?
Everything that you asked is very fact specific and no one answer will fit every questions. Even the AC well. Is it producing? If not, it is as if it did not exist. If it is producing and the new well is targeting another formation, then the AC well is irrelevant. Otherwise, the state rules state 1200' between wells on the "same tract or farm." An exception location can be received from the RRC and field rules may also reduce the distance between wells. This is very, very common in field rules for horizontal (Rule 87) wells.
I hope that I did not over-confuse your question by my answers.
Best
Buddy Cotten
Thanks for the info. It seems that the well site is within the RRC rules. My main concern was that the well site was located on State Highway 47 frontage which over time will become valuable commercial property. I was told that the drill site being used was the only(best) one available on our property. All the other pooled property could not be used for exploration because of commercial development. There was more acreage to the rear of our property that could have been used. Also, increasing the size of the pool has decreased our percentage of royalty payments