I bought property this March, and the mineral rights came with it. I’m knew to this and was wondering how to find out if any of the 7 wells are producing. I found out what company is operating but the only answer I can get out of the sec. is that “they are not on the list”. I do know that a lot of activity is going on around them. I have been recieving tax documents in the mail but they are to the former owners that were foreclosed on. If you have any advice it would be muchly appreciated. Thanks.
Virgil, Let me establish/confirm a few facts first:
I am assuming you bought the surface and can drive to all the wellhead locations. What is there? Wellheads?, production equipment?, separator vessels? pumping unit? storage tanks? gas meters?
Is it possible that gas wells have been drilled and there is no offtake pipeline?
Are there signs at each location with well names, API numbers, Texas Railroad Commission numbers? If not, there should be. It’s state law.
What is the name of the company that you have contacted. If you tell them you are a landowner upon which they have wells, it is not uncommon for you to be able to talk to someone much more knowledgeable than a secretary. The Land Department is where you want to start.
Please provide some more detail, and I suspect you’ll find some good input here.
My property is small and the wellheads are about 1/8 - 1/4 mile away behind a golf course. They are directional drilled under my property. The road to the wellheads is locked and you can’t see them from the road. All my neighbors are fairly new to the 35 year old neighborhood and I believe the original owner owns thier mineral rights. Sorry to bore you with all this, just want you to understand the situation and not think I’m nuts. I will call the company again as you suggested and try again. The company is Devon. I do have the names, API numbers, ect. though. I’ve been doing some searching. I do appreciate the info and this site has been a tremendous help. THANKS. I’m originally from Mississippi and knew nothing about this until I bought this house in Tarrant Co. Texas.
Kenny DuBose said:
Virgil,
Let me establish/confirm a few facts first:
I am assuming you bought the surface and can drive to all the wellhead locations. What is there? Wellheads?, production equipment?, separator vessels? pumping unit? storage tanks? gas meters?
Is it possible that gas wells have been drilled and there is no offtake pipeline?
Are there signs at each location with well names, API numbers, Texas Railroad Commission numbers? If not, there should be. It’s state law.
What is the name of the company that you have contacted. If you tell them you are a landowner upon which they have wells, it is not uncommon for you to be able to talk to someone much more knowledgeable than a secretary. The Land Department is where you want to start.
Please provide some more detail, and I suspect you’ll find some good input here.
Virgil, I’m from Mississippi also. And, I know that JB on this site also has roots in MS. We both live in Houston now.
Devon is an established and large oil and gas Operator. I suspect if you’ll be persistent, you can get some more information from them. Remember, if you’ve got API numbers and/or Railroad Commission ID numbers for the wells, you can go to the Texas Railroad Comissions’ website and review the historical production from individual wells. There’s a good article at http://www.mineralweb.com/how-verify-your-oil-and-gas-production-volumes-a-202.html explaining this.
NOT LEGAL ADVICE
Dear Mr. Alsup,
The Texas Railroad Commission is the state agency responsible for regulating the oil-and-gas industry in Texas. They have a great Web site with all the information you need, but it is not “user friendly.” I recommend calling them in Austin and asking them how to navigate to the maps that show the drilling activity in your area and how to navigate to see the production levels.
As far as the tax documents go, if the prior owner of your tract was foreclosed upon, any mineral rights they owned are now vested in you. And if you are receiving property-tax documents for their royalty valuation, then your property is in a drilling unit with a producing well. As of January 1, 2010, you will be required to pay the property taxes on your pro-rated value of the well. So contact the producer immediately to alert them to a change of ownership in the property. Probably all they need from you is a copy of your deed and a W-9 Form.
Sincerely,
Philip Wynne